Task of Time
by Happy Doodle
Summary: Sequel to Touch of the Future! :D When everyone thinks the galaxy is peaceful again, the Son is getting bored again...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there! I finished up the plan a bit earlier than expected. :D**

 **So that entire italicised lump in the beginning is an intro to what the Son is up to. ;) And then, the chapter will be split into half (altered and original). I expect the rest of the chapters to be the same.**

 **Enjoy! :D**

 **PS: Rey is Kylo's sister in this AU, as a continuity to the Skywalkers. :P**

 _Everyone thought the galaxy was peaceful again._

 _The Daughter had worked hard in order to let the two separate timelines exist together. She was constantly checking up on what the people were doing in each of the timelines, and fixing mistakes whenever necessary, while her brother the Son sulked in the background._

 _Boy, he was bored._

 _Even though he had died and returned to his family in remorse for what he had done to the Chosen One on Mortis, he couldn't help but feel extremely bored whenever things were as quiet as that. Heck, his only entertainment was watching that hilarious Jar Jar Binks in the altered timeline jumping and goofing around in the Senate._

 _If only he could prank someone..._

 _So one day, when his sister was off to visit the Father, he was watching the two timelines at once, but in different time zones._ _The boy Ben Solo, the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo existed in both timelines, he noted with much interest._

 _In the altered timeline, a long time ago from the Battle of Starkiller Base in the other timeline, 15 year old Ben Solo was a dutiful Jedi Padawan studying under the tutelage of Master Luke Skywalker._

 _However, when the Son scanned through the Battle of Starkiller Base in the original timeline, he noticed that 29 year old Ben Solo (*cough* Kylo Ren *cough*) had somehow turned to the Dark Side and was idolising the Chosen One. Furthermore, he was defeated by his own sister Rey (though he didn't know) in a vigorous lightsaber duel._

 _How different._

 _A mischievous plan was formulating in the Son's mind, and he smiled. Perfect._

 _He reached into the Force, extracting the Ben Solo from the altered timeline and Kylo Ren from the original timeline with ease._

 _Let's see how his beloved sister would react to this wonderful switch._

 _Someone grab the popcorn and soda from the fridge._

* * *

(Original Timeline)

' Hey, Hux, the doctor said he's alright.'

' He had _better_ be alright! I risked my life to rescue him off that exploding base!'

' Don't be like that. Besides, Supreme Leader Snoke has rewarded you greatly for rescuing him. Now we need to wait for him to wake up.'

' Yeah, and I had to rescue you off the trash compactor with your own legion of Stormtroopers, har har.'

' No you didn't! I escaped on my own!'

' Whatever you say, Phasma. Oh look, he moved. He should be waking up.'

Ben tried to lift his heavy eyelids. Man, he was tired. The last thing he remembered was training with his Master (aka Uncle Luke Skywalker) and his grandfather in the Jedi Temple dojo, before falling asleep in the middle of his rest. That didn't explain why every bone in his body ached and the searing pain on his face. The smell of bacta pricked his nostrils, and he gasped, finally opening his eyes.

' Well, well, well,' A red haired man came into view above him. ' I see that you are finally awake, Ren. Phasma has gone to find the doctor. Can you sit up? Hang on, let me help you.' The guy carefully helped him sit up.

Ben wasn't sure if he should be terrified by the fact that he had just woken up in a completely strange room with a strange, sarcastic guy (whoever that was, he didn't seem friendly) looming over him or the fact that he felt as if he had been seared with a lightsaber. Or that he was in the body of someone else.

' Ren, has the cat got your tongue?' The guy didn't seem notice his discomfort. ' Or has the lightsaber wound on your face somehow disrupted your way of thinking?'

' Who are you?' Ben blurted out. Great. Now the guy would probably suspect him. And he forgot to mention his name wasn't Ren as well.

' Who am I?' The guy's eyes widened. ' Ah, great. You have amnesia. Supreme Leader Snoke won't be happy. Oh, Phasma, I'm glad you're back, he has gone mad!'

' What happened, Hux?' That lady in armour (kind of looked like Uncle Rex's old clone armour) said.

' Kylo Ren has gone crazy,' That guy - Hux (aha finally knew his name) gulped. ' He doesn't remember me. Or anything. He must have got amnesia from that crazy lightsaber wound. Maybe it's infected or something, we should check-'

The medical droid next to Phasma said, ' But... I checked for any infection on the wound, and there was none. And the patient... His state of mind should be normal.' If droids could be confused, he most definitely was.

Phasma and Hux rounded up on Ben suspiciously, and Ben finally decided to act. Fortunately his acting skills were great, thanks to the training from his grandfather, who was a great drama queen himself. ' Haha! Got you, Hux!' He invented. ' How could I not remember you? I was just fooling around, bro!'

Hux fumed, ' Very funny, Ren. I should have known that you are _absolutely_ horrible at lying. Look at how that Matt prank of yours went last time. And you murdered one of our best officials too. Zack. Do you know how hard it was to employ someone especially when the Resistance is running across the galaxy trying to tick us off?'

' And I heard from the others he threw one of the Stormtroopers from my legion into the soda machine,' Phasma actually sounded rather amused.

Hux raised an eyebrow.

' Well, at least he didn't lose his memory. That's great, or else Supreme Leader will be most furious at us,' Phasma said, relieved. ' Do you remember what happened?'

He shook his head.

Hux started ranting, ' Yeah, lots of things happened. You idiot! I'm not exactly sure what happened down there on the Base, but you killed your father and then were somehow defeated by that horrible scavenger girl Rey and her treacherous Resistance friends and was lying on the snow dead to the world. If I hadn't pulled you off that base on the Supreme Leader's orders, you would have been exploded into little bits on that Starkiller Base. So now we are safe and sound on the Finaliser. Anyways, Supreme Leader isn't pleased with the blowing up of the base, but he kept saying that your Dark Side training is nearly complete because you killed your father. Ha ha.' None of that stuff meant anything to Ben, but the name 'Rey' did. It was his little sister's name... And... What did Hux mean? Killed his father? Who? It couldn't be his father Han Solo. He was away on another trip with Chewie. Ah. He probably wasn't talking about him.

' Anyways,' He huffed sarcastically. ' Now you have this ugly lightsaber scar on your face. It suits you. But no one will look anyways. I need to go now, the officers will be expecting me for a meeting on the bridge.'

While Phasma wasn't looking, Ben pulled at his cheek, trying to wake himself up from this totally strange dream. Yeah. He would probably wake up in the dojo again, laugh with his Master about this dream. But it didn't work. The pain only made his eyes water, and he was still in the sick room.

On the other side of the room, Phasma could be seen asking the droid, ' When can he make a full recovery?'

' Oh, he's alright. He can return to his own quarters and carry out his normal duties with the exception of training,' The droid answered monotonously. ' But the bacta patches on his leg will need changing for twice a day. He must remember to come back for it.'

' Great,' Phasma said, and turned to Ben. ' Get up, I'll get you back to your room. But first, you must change.'

She tossed him a set of strange dark robes and a really weird mask that literally made him feel like a Sith. He was a Jedi! He wasn't supposed to wear anything like that. But he was too confused about the situation to complain. He put them on without a word, and even stuffed on the mask, which had a built in vocabulator that made his voice funny.

' Your lightsaber,' Phasma tossed him a strange, rusty looking lightsaber. ' Yeah, Hux got it for you as well. You should thank him later.'

They got out of the room, and out into a maze of corridors. Everything was so dark... They even walked past a band of clone troopers (they didn't even look like clone troopers) or whatever they were supposed to be. Strange enough, they jumped at the sight of Ben and quickly turned away.

' Your quarters,' Phasma said tonelessly, and directed Ben to a private door. ' Behind there, go.'

The door slid shut. Ben was finally alone. His 'quarters' was the most peculiar place ever. It wasn't like his quarters back in the Jedi Temple. Everything was sleek and shiny and dark. Then he turned to find his reflection on the shiny, black wall.

To his shock, he was looking at his very own face, only that it was much older and mature. Great. So he was himself. A much older version of himself, and in a very messed up world.

He knelt down on the floor, with his face in his hands.

What was going on? Where was he?

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

' Ben? You there?'

Someone was tugging on Kylo's sleeve.

Normally, he would roar and Force-choke whoever that dared to enter his quarters without his permission (hey, someone might want to steal his precious Darth Vader's helmet). But... Something in the Force told him that was not the case.

His eyes snapped open, and he found himself sitting with his back against the wall, in a... Jedi Temple dojo? The next thing he realised was that he was wearing beige Jedi robes. He nearly yelped. It had been ages since he wore this set of cursed robes, and he had incinerated his own when he marched on to slaughter his Uncle's Order with his fellow Knights of Ren. And he felt a Jedi Padawan braid lightly brushing past his ear.

What in the Force was going on?

' Ben? What 'appened?' The small voice to his right said again.

He turned to find... A tiny girl in Jedi robes tugging at his sleeve. Who was that? And her signature three-bunned hairstyle immediately gave her identity away.

Rey, or whoever that was, the girl scavenger.

Memories began rushing back to Kylo... He was on the Starkiller base... Fighting that scavenger girl... He had just killed his father. And... And... What happened? Why was he in the Jedi Temple all over again? What the... Where...

' Were you listening, Ben?' Rey piped nervously. ' Uncle Luke left you 'ere. He said you were tired. Mom was worried, so she sent me to get you. Let's go.'

He could only gape at the smaller version of the rebel scavenger, unsure what to say. The Kylo Ren part of him was asking him to rise up and kill that ignorant girl on the spot, but that cursed light in him caused him to stop.

' Fine,' He said sensibly. ' I'll go with you.'

Rey brightened up, and Kylo leapt up from his sitting position. When he gazed upon the reflexive material on the dojo walls, he realised... He looked younger. His old green bladed lightsaber was hanging on his belt. He wondered where his old one went when Snoke switched it for his new lightsaber that was cooler and more stylish. Hmm... Maybe it was down the pit. Yeah, like the one his stupid father fell down into when he stabbed him.

However, the luxurious corridors of the Temple told him it wasn't the Yavin 4 Temple. It was so different. Younger Jedi kept passing them, talking happily with each other.

Little Rey kept talking at his side,' Grandfather was talking to me about lightsabers. He has a blue one. When I grow up, I want to build a double-bladed lightsaber. Oh, and I'd want white crystals. Like Aunt 'Soka's.'

' White crystals are rare,' Kylo answered automatically. ' And aren't they for Force-sensitives that aren't aligned with any side?'

Rey pouted.

' Rey, Ben, what are you doing here?' A voice said.

' MAAAASTER DUME!' Rey squealed, and literally Force-jumped (can 5 year old kids Force-jump?) into that random person's arms. Kylo stepped back in surprise.

A man, probably in his early fifties, was holding Rey. Kylo decided not to speak, because he didn't know who that was, and that would blow his cover.

' We were going to find Mom!' She grinned toothily. ' Master Dume, when are you going to tell me more about Kanan? I wanna hear about Kanan!' Again, Kylo had no idea what that was all about.

Master Dume laughed nervously, ' Maybe someday, Rey, when Master Skywalker or Master Windu are not around. Run along now... Oh, Ben, you look awfully pale. Are you feeling unwell?' Kylo shook his head jerkily.

Master Dume raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He lowered Rey to the ground.

Rey did a happy dance, and said, ' Ben, let's go!' Kylo groaned inwardly, and allowed Rey to lead them to Rey's Mom. Whoever that was, he didn't care. He was too dizzy to care. Everything was so unreal. Hux might have placed some magic mushrooms in his caff.

After a couple minutes, they were strolling past a corridor of doors. Rey ran up to one, rapped smartly on the door. An awfully familiar feminine voice said, ' Come in.'

Rey pulled Kylo into the room eagerly. The place looked like a living quarters. Not much black, hmm.

A woman was meditating in the living room, and her eyes snapped open when they entered.

And Kylo realised with horror. He was looking at his own mother. Leia Organa.

 **Wow. The Son is bored.**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading the first chapter! XD Leave reviews to tell me what you think, and if you are confused about what is going on, feel free to put it down as well. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ben does some research! :D**

( Original Timeline)

After meditating on the very uncomfortable meditation cushions, Ben came up to the conclusion that he had time-travelled AND dimension-travelled, and was stuck in the body of his evil, older self. More like an evil twin. Yeah. He got the 'evil' part when he turned on the lightsaber to find a crackling, sizzling red blade of a Sith much to his dismay. And what... Was that burnt helmet thing? He picked it up and sneezed horribly from all the ash.

Then he told himself something was wrong with his older self, and this new dark side thing he belonged to would kill him without a doubt if he somehow blew his own cover. That meant he had to act like his weird older self, hang in there until he had a good idea of how to return to his safe, Jedi world.

Heck, he was the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear and the best Drama Queen known in the history of the Jedi (well, Master Ahsoka Tano and Master Obi-wan said that, not him) AND the son of Han Solo, the best smuggler in the galaxy, and well, a brilliant actor. Thanks to his grandfather and father, he should be able to keep up with this dark personality. But first, he knew he needed to research about this ' dark personality', since he was still very confused about what kind of a mess this world had landed into.

He plopped in front of the computer, and turned it on. He poked around with it and knew at once a monitoring system was installed into the thing. He needed to disable it temporarily to hide his researching activities, in case anyone saw it, and his cover would be blown. Much thanks to Master Ahsoka, who had excellent programming skills and Master Dume, who had proudly said he once took over the entire Holonet system to defeat one Sith lord (his skills were yet again taught by Master Ahsoka), he easily tapped some simple codes and froze the system.

Great. Now he could search anything he wanted.

He started his search but typing 'Kylo Ren'. Seriously, a name change? He had no idea what kind of a name that was. At least that was what Hux called him. Perhaps it was a nickname of some sort. He had many back in the Jedi Temple. His Grandfather, uncle and Ahsoka called him Sologuy. His father, mother and Chewbacca sometimes called him Chewie number 2 (he was trying to learn Wookiee speak). Rey and some of his other Padawan friends liked to call him Benny.

Okay. Back to Kylo Ren.

A result popped out of the 'First Order search engine' immediately. He read the result out loud, ' Kylo Ren, aged 29, is a Force-sensitive member of the First Order and Knights of Ren. His past is never really specified. Stormtroopers of the First Order reckons Ren as a terrifying commander with anger issues.' He stared at the last part with confusion.

He continued his search at all the keywords he didn't know, and with mounting horror, he read all about the Jedi purge, Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, Death Star, rising of the First Order and the wiping out of the second Jedi Order, which was built by Master Luke. Worst of all, his older self claimed to have killed himself, but had actually went to the Dark Side and went as far to kill his father. The only thing he and his older self shared in common was that they both loved their grandfather. Though Ben loved his Jedi grandfather, not Darth Vader.

At the end of the three hours of his intensive researching, he came to realise that things were so, so, so different in this world.

Master Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order forever and never came back.

Master Dume never stopped the Sith Lord over the Holonet, and so in the end, his grandfather (called himself Darth Vader, what's with all the name changing?) was seduced to the Dark Side by Palps due to reasons unknown.

His grandmother had died shortly after that, and due to complications, her true reason of death was never revealed. Strange.

His Uncle Luke was brought to Tatooine and his mother was sent to Alderaan to avoid the Empire. Both of them weren't trained as Jedi from a young age.

Uncle Luke was trained by Master Obi-wan instead of his grandfather.

And apparently his grandfather died from protecting Uncle Luke and returned to the Light Side.

A newly added piece of information indicated his little sister Rey was thrown onto Jakku as a kid by an anonymous person, and had recently joined the Resistance. Well, she managed to defeat Kylo in a duel on this Starkiller Base thing, and had escaped to find Uncle Luke, who had gone into exile.

He groaned at how messed up this particular world was. He had to act like Kylo to survive, that meant he had to be angry all the time. Unfortunately, Ben Solo rarely got angry. The only time he got extremely angry was when Rey, who was still a small toddler at the time, accidentally crushed his lightsaber crystal, the one he had so carefully taken from the crystal caves, but he calmed down quickly after that when he learnt it was just an accident. Master Yoda granted him one more chance to get one and Master Katooni kindly escorted him to the caves.

He wanted to know where his mother lived. The search engine only claimed Leia Organa (why Organa) as a traitorous Resistance general who fought against the First Order. He wondered if she would ever forgive his older self for killing her husband. Probably not. He resented his older self for doing that to his father.

A ringing noise caught his attention. A comlink on his table was ringing. He picked it up carefully, ' Um, Kylo Ren here.'

' Hello, Ren,' Hux snarled. ' Care to open the door?'

Ben quickly switched off his computer, and swung open the door of his quarters. He went for an extremely peevish look, ' You could have _just knocked,_ Hux.'

' Whatever, I don't feel like it,' Hux crossed his arms. ' They have called for a meeting. You'll have to attend.'

Ben picked up his helmet, and put it on. ' Fine,' He said.

He allowed Hux to take him to the meeting room. Fortunately, Ben was gifted with a good photographic memoiry, so he was able to memorise all the labyrinth like pathways of the Star Destroyer.

' There we go,' Hux said stiffly, and pushed Ben into a rather spacious meeting room. Captain Phasma was present, and sitting around a table, were First Order officers. Fortunately, he did his research, and was able to memorise each and every of them. And they seemed to be terrified of Ben. Or more like Kylo.

' Um, hello, Ren,' A man (Ben recognised him to be Lieutenant Mitaka) said. ' Nice to see that you are well.'

He stopped himself from saying 'thank you'. Apparently Kylo Ren never said ' thank you'. He simply nodded awkwardly, and sat down.

' Well, aren't we going to start the meeting?' Hux snapped. ' The Supreme Leader would like us to come up with a report of our remaining troops and what we are going to do next.'

' But we don't have the Base anymore,' Phasma murmured.

' I say we march the Resistance base using our troops,' One of the Stormtrooper officers said. ' We know for sure they are on D'Qar. Let's just kill them all off once and for all, like we did with that village.'

' No we can't,' Hux said. ' As much as I hate the Resistance, their best troops are stationed all around. We can't just let our men storm the base.'

' What?' Mitaka demanded. ' Are you suggesting to build one more Base, Hux?'

' No I didn't,' Hux said sharply. ' General Organa can see through all our tricks. And by the way, Ren, our spies have reported that Luke Skywalker has returned with that scavenger girl Rey to the base.'

Ben said nothing.

' What now,' Phasma actually sounded amused. ' I'd thought you would react to the news, Ren. What do you say, Ren, about the Resistance?'

Ben rasped through his helmet, ' I say we, er, try to get an idea of what state the Order is in for now. The Base is gone, and we have sustained heavy damages. I'm not going to risk having my troops raid the Base at this state.'

' Wow,' Hux rolled his eyes. ' That's the most sensible thing you have ever said, Ren. Should I say congratulations?' A lieutenant laughed.

The entire room froze over, and looked at the unfortunate man with a look that clearly said 'oh no, you didn't just laugh at Kylo Ren'.

Ben's mind was also racing. What would Kylo Ren do? What would Kylo Ren do? The information he had discovered told him that the real Kylo Ren would whip out his lightsaber without a thought, and strike down the man in blind rage. No... That was not the Jedi way. He wouldn't violate that just to keep his cover. So he made himself think.

 _What would Grandfather do?_

He was immediately reminded one of the crazy bedtime stories his Grandfather used to tell him (much to Master Obi-wan's annoyance). It consisted of him courageously chasing some mean, rude pirates off Outer Rim planets. And later when he grew up, Master Ezra (Ahsoka was accompanying Padme to a diplomatic mission, Obi-wan was undercover in a secret den, so the Council had no choice but to send Ezra, who was newly Knighted just two days ago, to accompany Anakin) told him that most of it were not true. Though he did recall one of his Grandfather's rather dramatic quotes...

' Laugh again, Lieutenant,' He imitated his Grandfather's dramatic voice. ' And I'll make sure that is your last.'

Apparently that seemed to give a reassuring effect, and the mood relaxed. But the said lieutenant shrunk back in his seat.

' Alright, alright,' Hux rolled his eyes. ' We will do as Ren says. We shall repair our damages, prepare our troops for battle, and then vanquish the loathsome Resistance once and for all. Great. This is the end of the meeting. Ren, you are coming with me. Supreme Leader Snoke would like to see you.'

 _Oh no._

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Kylo just stood there and gaped at his mother. He hadn't seen her face since he left to slay the Jedi Order with his fellow Knights of Ren. And he definitely wasn't expecting to see his mother again, wearing Jedi garb.

' Come on, Ben, say something,' Rey tugged harder on his sleeve.

Oh, no no no no no no no. This was so messed up. He guessed he was living in a timeline where the Republic was never destroyed and there was no Empire. Probably no First Order too.

No Darth Vader? Worst thing ever.

' Ben?' His mother stood up worriedly. ' Are you feeling well? You look pale.'

' You should go to the healers,' Rey suggested.

' No, I don't need to. I'm fine,' His mind was in a confused state.

' You should listen to your sister, Ben,' Leia laid a hand over little Rey's shoulder. ' She might be younger than you, but she is right.'

Wait. Sister?

He looked violently between Rey and Leia who were looking at him quizzically, and understanding hit home. WHAT? That... That scavenger... Was his s-sister? No, no way. He would have remembered. He had never had a sister.

' No, no no,' He quickly covered up. ' I'm tired, that's all. I had training with Uncle, er, Luke.'

' Right,' Leia still seemed suspicious. ' I just want to tell you that your grandfather and Ahsoka have returned from their secret mission. I think you'd like to see them.'

Grandfather! Kylo revived wonderfully at the thought of his grandfather, the great Darth Vader whom he loved so much. This time travelling thing couldn't possibly be bad. He had so hoped to see his favourite grandfather if he hadn't died on the second Death Star. Now... He finally got the chance to. He didn't even need to act to look happy, because he was literally bouncing in excitement.

' Look at you,' Leia smiled. ' So excited to see your grandfather. I just received word from Ezra that they have just arrived at the hangar and should be settling down there. You should go find them.'

' I wanna go too!' Rey exclaimed.

' Fine,' Kylo was too excited to care. ' Come with me.' He couldn't even remember he was completely new here and didn't know his way.

' Er, Ben?' Rey said, when Kylo madly raced off. ' Are you sure the hangar is over there? That leads to the Master quarters.'

In the end, he had to allow Rey to escort him over to the hangar.

This Jedi Temple's hangar was almost as large as the Starkiller Bases's hangar. Back on Yavin 4, that outdoor hangar was really small, until Luke had decided to expand it to make more room for the Millennium Falcon.

' AHSSSSSOOOOOKKKAA!' Rey was quicker than Ben, Force-jumping off to the nearest shuttle, and landed in the arms of a very tall Togrutan woman.

Ahsoka. Ahsoka Tano. Kylo recognised the name at once. He heard she was a part of his uncle's new Jedi Order back on Yavin, but she had been on a dangerous mission to Malachor (they said she went there to continue to learn more about the Sith) for so many years, and she rarely came back. Last he checked when he was with his fellow Knights of Ren, she was still on Malachor, oblivious to what had happened.

Boy, to him, she was the luckiest person in the galaxy. He read from Snoke's archives that she was the famous Jedi apprentice of his grandfather. She was probably the only Jedi he admired, and he'd give anything to take her place, as there was no greater honour in the world to be the apprentice of his wonderful grandfather.

' Heeey,' She said, stroking Rey's hair. ' How's little Sologirl?'

' I'm fine,' Rey grinned. ' How's the mission?'

' It went well,' Ahsoka set Rey down. ' Oh, hey there, Sologuy. How are you?'

Kylo wanted to say something like ' oh my, I'm your greatest fan', but stopped himself, ' Um, I'm fine, I guess. Where's grandfather?'

' Your grandfather should be coming,' Ahsoka looked behind her. ' Ugh, Anakin is so slow. I asked him to get ready before we arrive on Coruscant, but he was like _nah, I'm going to procrastinate_. Seriously, I thought he would be less of a kid, but no. He's sixty something years old, and he's still a baby.' Rey giggled and Kylo frowned. ' So, how's everyone?'

Rey started talking fast, ' Dad is off smuggling again with Chewie. Nothing special. Mom is fine, she's always meditating Uncle Luke when dad's away. Master Obi-wan has just left Coruscant three days ago to accompany some Senator to a, uh, mission, he shoul' be back a week later. Guess what? I had a project about different planets, so grandmother took me to a trip on Naboo. It was great. And... It was Master Caleb Dume and Hera's wedding anniversary a week ago. We had a party. Rex and Fives taught me how to use a blaster.'

' That's lovely to hear,' Ahsoka smiled. ' What about you, Sologuy? Anything special?'

Kylo cleared his throat, ' Um, I am trying to practice on my lightsaber forms, that's all.'

' Really?' Ahsoka raised an eye marking. ' That's all?'

' Yeah,' Rey came to Kylo's rescue. ' He keeps saying he wants to make grandfather proud, so he wants to practice Form V. '

' Of course he is proud of you, dear,' Ahsoka promised, then she grinned, feeling something through the Force. ' Ah there you are, Skyguy. I thought you are never going to get off the ship.'

Standing on the ramp of the ship, was Anakin Skywalker.

' Grandfather,' Kylo breathed.

 **There you go! :D Confused Ben and Kylo.**

 **Whoop whoop it's the graduation party tonight. Gonna have loads of fun XD**

 **Here is the Me and Star Wars section! :D Well, a more depressing version, as it involves ROTS. I'm sure most of us who have watched Clone Wars feel the same.**

 ***ROTS playing on the TV***

 ***Anakin marches into the Temple***

 **Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ANAKIN NOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 ***zooms into the 501st clones***

 **Me: NOOOO NOOOOO BUT... KIX MIGHT BE IN THERE! WHAT ABOUT JESSE? THE OTHERS? HELLO? NOOOOOO... APPO NOOOOO...**

 *** Order 66 comes up and Cody receives it ***

 **Me: NOOOOOOOO COOOODDDDYYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOO...**

 ***More Order 66***

 **Me: NOOO MUNDI NOOO! STOOOOOP! AAYLA NOOO! BLY NOOOOO! NOOOOO! PlO! NOT YOU TOO! NOOOOOO! GREEEEEEEE NOOOO!**

 **Yep. That was what happened.**


	3. Chapter 3

(Original Timeline)

Ben didn't know what to make of that giant person (holo, perhaps) sitting in front of him that was supposed to be his Master, the great Supreme Leader Snoke.

He let Hux do most of the talking. The General began to speak to Snoke about the details of their new plan and basic reports of how everyone was doing. Most of the time, Ben tried to stay still and attracted as little attention from Snoke as possible.

' Good, General, good,' Snoke seemed happy. ' Who's idea is this...?'

' Ren's,' Hux said grudgingly. ' And I have to admit it is a great one. It might help us defeat the Resistance in the future.'

' Ah, right, speaking of Kylo Ren,' To Ben's dread, Snoke noticed him. ' Are you alright, my boy? General, is he recovering from his injuries?'

' He should be,' Hux said politely. ' But that horrid girl left this lightsaber scar on his face. And his leg is injured, also-'

Snoke sat back into his chair, ' Alright. You should have some rest. I think two months of leave are enough.'

' Master,' Ben addressed him for the first time, and it disgusted him. ' The medical droids said I am fine.'

' No, we wouldn't risk anything,' Snoke said. ' Two months of leave, that's final. And... General Hux, I shall reward you greatly for rescuing Kylo off that Base. My scientists and technicians have created a new series of Star Destroyers, with a more powerful shield and other new functions. I will give you the best model in the series, the _Resolute_.'

' I...' Hux seemed shocked. ' I am flattered, Supreme Leader, but-'

' Nonsense, you deserved it,' Snoke waved off.

Ben murmured, ' Resolute... This sounds familiar.'

' Yes it is,' Snoke smiled thinly. ' That was the name of your grandfather's flagship back in the Clone Wars. A nice name for a ship, don't you think?'

' I... T-thank you, Supreme Leader,' Hux bowed low and flashed a brief, smug look at Ben.

Snoke nodded, ' Right. You can go back to your duties, General. Wait until I summon you again, then we shall talk about the _Resolute_. For now, I wish to speak to Kylo Ren.'

Hux bowed respectfully once more, shot Ben a curious look, and walked away from the room.

The Supreme Leader stared at Ben. Ben stared back. For once, he was thankful that he had his helmet on, because his teeth were probably chattering from his fear. He felt cold, too.

' Your Dark Side training is almost complete,' Snoke sounded pleased. ' You have done very well, Kylo Ren. You have passed your test and made yourself worthy as the master of the Knights of Ren. All light in you should be gone by now. Do you feel more powerful?'

' Yes, Master. I feel stronger, thanks to your guidance,' Ben said hastily. ' But... The Starkiller Base is gone, and Luke Skywalker has been found by the Resistance-'

' The Base has done its part,' Snoke said casually. ' We have destroyed the weak Republic before it is gone, so... And on the bright side, now that Luke Skywalker is back to action, it's much easier to kill him. Don't you want to kill him, Kylo Ren?'

' Eurgh,' He murmured behind his helmet, and spoke up loud, ' Yes, I'd like to kill him. But that girl...'

' The Force is strong with her,' Snoke said thoughtfully. ' She'd make a wonderful collection to the Knights of Ren. Chase her down, make her join us. Or else...'

 _Eurgh, that's my sister, you monster,_ Ben gagged behind his helmet, but he murmured, ' Yes, Master. Of course. She will join us, or die, like any other Jedi.'

Snoke nodded again, ' Good. Now run along. Remember, you'll need your rest if you want to kill Luke Skywalker. If you want to get to some other planet for vacation, you are free to do so. Well, see you again after two months, Ren.'

Ben awkwardly copied Hux's bow, and scooted out of the chambers hurriedly, in case Snoke suddenly decided he was acting weird and wanted to interrogate him.

Once he was out of Snoke's sight, he breathed heavily.

Great. Two months of leave. What to do?

He had absolutely no idea. He didn't like the idea of hanging around Hux and Phasma for two months or watching those Stormtrooper people train with their blasters.

His stomach decided it was a good time to rumble.

Right. He decided to think about what to do for two months only after eating something.

* * *

It took him an hour to find the mess hall. He got lost for seven times and almost always ended up in the hangar bay. Once he ended up in the Stormtrooper dormitory, and by the time he got there, most of the Stormtroopers had escaped in the middle of training to avoid the menacing Kylo Ren. An extremely annoyed Phasma in her silver armour and all (does she ever take off her helmet?) had showed up and asked him to go away.

He was very lucky indeed when he finally took a correct turn and arrived at the mess hall. It was pretty huge, compared to the ones he had seen. When he was still a youngling, Madam Jocasta took his class to a field trip on an old medical frigate used in the Clone Wars era and allowed them to walk around inside the ship.

He hurried towards the source of the food, and without noticing, he bumped into a Stormtrooper.

The trooper shrieked, and kept apologising, ' I'm so sorry, Sir, please don't kill me.'

' Er, who are you again?' Ben asked, trying to regain his balance.

' Um, I'm Tim, Sir,' The Stormtrooper said. ' We've met before. On the Starkiller Base.'

Ben raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, well aware that the trooper couldn't see his facial expression.

' You threw me into the soda machine, Sir. Remember?'

Ben stared at him blankly.

' Whatever, Sir. Um, sorry, Sir,' He squeaked, and literally ran away.

He tried to ignore all the attention he got from fellow First Order members (seriously, was he that famous?) while he was getting his food. The food definitely didn't look that appealing compared to Dex's food. But he had seen worse. His grandfather was bad at cooking. Hey, it couldn't be that bad, right?

It's really bad. Like, really bad.

That was probably the only flaw of the Hero with No Fear, but it could be rather 'destructive'. His mother said she almost had food poisoning when she ate the cookie surprise his grandfather made. Even Master Caleb, who was a crazy cookie lover, wouldn't dare to touch it. Ahsoka and Obi-wan had too much experience with his grandfather's cooking to go near it.

He returned his attention his present situation, and prepared to go to an empty seat. But he stepped on a fork left behind on the floor, and made a great show of tripping to the floor. Everyone fell silent.

' Ow,' He groaned, and sat up. Great, food was everywhere.

It was not the Jedi way, but he was in a rather bad mood. He used the Force to throw away that cursed fork violently to the wall, and only when it had left his hand, he realised it wasn't a fork at all.

It was his strange lightsaber, that had somehow fallen off his weapons belt when he was thrown to the floor.

Everyone watched in horror, as the lightsaber activated in midair (red, sizzling, evil, three bladed and all) and whizzed dramatically onto the wall in a brilliant shower of sparks, bounced off, deactivated, and skidded onto the floor with a heavy thud.

It was an accident, in Ben's eyes. But definitely not to the Stormtroopers or officers.

They could only see that Kylo Ren was throwing yet another temper tantrum and was threatening to kill them all with his lightsaber. The Starkiller Base survivors were immediately reminded of Matt the radar technician. They screamed, shouted, ran in all four directions and jostled each other to flee from the mess hall in terror, despite Ben's frantic apologies in the background.

When all of them were gone (their terrified screams still echoed), Ben sat alone on the floor, shocked at what had just happened. He summoned the lightsaber to him using the Force and clipped it back to his belt. Why were they so scared of him?

Then he realised. He finally understood why Stormtroopers tried to flee once they saw him or why even the top First Order officers seemed to be intimidated by him, with the exception of the proud General Hux, of course.

They were terrified because they thought he was going to kill them.

And he had a bad feeling that his older self liked to threaten people. A lot. And similar accidents if not worse must have happened often.

Oh dear.

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Darth Vader- no, Anakin Skywalker struck Kylo as extremely impressive. His golden brown hair was mixed with streaks of grey, and he was dressed in traditional Jedi robes (aw, not the Vader armour).

Kylo had to remind himself twice that this was the weak, Jedi version of Darth Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker. This was not the Sith Lord he was looking for. But he was too excited and giddy to care much about it. Dude, Darth Vader or not, standing right in front of him, was the grandfather he had so hoped to meet. Not the ashy helmet.

Rey reacted before Kylo, squealed in excitement, and jumped to meet her grandfather.

' How's my favourite grandchildren doing? Hey, Rey. Hey, Ben,' Anakin Skywalker ruffled Rey's hair lovingly. ' Oh, you've grown, Rey! Someday, you'll be taller than me or your mother.'

' They are your only grandchildren,' Ahsoka stated.

' Yeah, they _are_ my favourite grandchildren,' Anakin shrugged, gently setting Rey down. ' Doesn't make much of a difference.'

He walked over to Kylo and clapped him hard on the shoulder, ' Are you training hard while I am away?'

' Yes, grandfather,' Kylo tried to inject as much pride into his words.

Anakin's blue eyes twinkled mysteriously, ' Good, Ben. I got something for you both.'

' Oh, no,' Ahsoka rolled her eyes.

' Ben, Rey, buddy, are you going to finish what I started?' He reached into the pockets of his robes.

Kylo was dazed. What could it be? What could it be? Darth Vader wanted him to finish what he started? Eliminate the Jedi? Build a red lightsaber? Try to-

' I'd be honoured to, grandfather-' Before he could say anything stupid, Anakin tossed him and Rey a packet of food each. Honey coloured candies.

' Yaaaaaaaaay! CANDIES!' Rey shrieked, and immediately tore the packet open. Kylo held the packet, trying hard not to look disappointed (he meant candies, you idiot). What would his grandfather say when he noticed his disappointed face?

' Not exactly finish what I started,' Anakin joked. ' But I know how you two used to like to ask me for candies when I am eating some. I always give you two the rest of it. I spotted them in a candy store on the planet, and I immediately thought of you two.'

' Yeah, we nearly got killed, and you tried to go and buy some candies,' Ahsoka said tonelessly.

Anakin said, ' The point is, we didn't get killed. I saved the day. End of story. Okay, the Council is expecting us. We had better go, Snips, before Master Unduli lectures us about punctuality. Enjoy your candy! We'll see you two soon.'

Kylo glanced at Rey forlornly - she had already finished her packet and was secretly eyeing Ben's packet.

' Aren't you going to eat?' Rey folded the packet neatly. ' Those are your favourite, Ben.'

Kylo tucked the packet into his pocket, ' Not now, Rey. I don't feel like having candy.'

' Are you going back to see Uncle Luke?' Rey ignored him. ' I'd like to see Uncle Luke too. Can I go with you? Can I go? Can I go?'

Kylo froze. He completely forgot he was the Padawan of Luke Skywalker here. He wanted to kill him on the spot, but he knew it was a terrible idea. Murdering a Jedi Master in the middle of the Jedi Temple? Nope. In front of his innocent little 'sister'? No. This would probably be the worst idea since he tried chasing that Stormtrooper traitor and Rey into the snowing forest.

Without waiting for Kylo's response, Rey took Kylo's hand, and pulled him off to Luke Skywalker's quarters.

 **The sentences in this chapter are rather choppy and fragmented because it reflects Kylo or Ben's confused state of mind. :D**

 **I promise the sentences in the next few chapters will be less, um, choppy. XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ben has a plan! :D For now, the original timeline part is slightly longer.**

(Original Timeline)

Ben spent his first day of official leave in his room, trying to meditate on what to do. He had decided to skip lunch, because he preferred not to see the troopers trying to escape from him. That didn't help with his appetite. He was okay with being hungry. He often skipped meals on important missions, because he'd rather not eat ration bars. He didn't like ration bars. Though a packet of his grandfather's honey candies wouldn't hurt.

He wanted to escape this place. The entire thing was so filled with darkness, that he almost had difficulty in breathing.

It was only when he was surfing through old data on his computer, he realised what he had to do to get away from this dreadful place.

He was reading an article about the information of the main officers in the Resistance base (newly discovered to be located on D'Qar), and there was a picture of his mother, the famous General Leia Organa Solo. According to the article, she was extremely powerful in politics, and was one of the best Senators in the new Republic, well, before it was destroyed. Ben thought she was brilliant, but perhaps, the First Order didn't think so.

The answer to his freedom was so obvious. It was almost silly of him for not thinking about it earlier at the meeting, when they were talking about the Resistance and General Leia Organa Solo.

He needed to find his mother and Uncle Luke on D'Qar if he wanted to go back to his time.

* * *

The hardest part of his plan was to get a small ship without attracting any unnecessary attention.

He had only stepped into the hangar for a second or so, when the commander of the hangar rushed forward to meet with him, ' Sir? Do you require a ship? I'll have your personal command shuttle ready in a minute, please wait, Sir. And I ask the Stormtroopers to-'

' I don't need my command shuttle, Commander,' Ben said. ' You do know I'm having my two months leave, right?'

' Yes, Sir,' The Commander seemed slightly confused. ' The Supreme Leader has asked General Hux to tell us all.'

Ben nodded, ' Good. I only need a small ship, nothing too fancy. Um, let's see... That small one over there perhaps?' He pointed at a weird shaped fighter next to the command terminal. He hadn't seen anything quite like that. It didn't look like any of the Jedi star fighters in the Temple or clone star fighters.

The Commander blinked at the ship, and said, ' You want a TIE fighter, Sir?'

 _TIE Fighter? Oh well._

' Yes,' Ben said. ' The TIE, er, fighter.'

' Alright Sir, I will have it ready,' The Commander hurriedly turned on his comlink. ' But Sir, where are you going?'

' That's none of your business, Commander,' Ben said coldly.

The Commander looked afraid, ' S-sorry Sir! I don't mean to, um...'

Ben sighed, giving up, ' Fine. I'm going to Naboo, if you really want to know.'

' N-Naboo, Sir?'

' Yes,' Ben felt ridiculous. ' Beautiful waterfalls, lakes, forests, sunsets etc. And fun Gungan water parks. They're having a water show. _Limited time._ And special discount.'

The Commander's eyes widened to the size of saucers, ' Um...'

' Is there a problem, Commander?' Ben leered at him. ' Even Kylo Ren needs a good vacation when you people have your Life Day or First Order Day holidays. Besides, the great Supreme Leader specifically said I can go anywhere to recover from my injuries. Naboo is the best place, don't you think so? Or are you questioning my choice of location?'

The poor man stared at him in fear, ' No, no, of course not, Sir. This way, it is ready.'

Ben climbed clumsily into the fighter, feeling rather weird while he strapped himself in. The Commander peered nervously, ' Is that alright, Sir?'

' Yes, thank you for your service, Commander,' He tried to examine the control panels of the fighter. ' That would be all. You can go now.' The man nodded stiffly, and went back to the control terminal.

Well, the buttons looked pretty complicated, but it should be similar to his personal star fighter. He activated a switch and the engines came roaring to live. The thing went up quickly, and Ben hurriedly found the control switch to avoid it from crashing through the roof of the hangar.

' Here goes nothing,' He swerved the fighter, and he shot out into space. The fighter belched out a noise that suspiciously sounded his father and Chewbacca yawning together as he whizzed past the Star Destroyer.

He had decided to make a brief stop at Naboo, in case the First Order suspected. Maybe he could drop down to buy some shuura fruit ice-cream or some of Naboo's delicacies. He hadn't had one in ages.

He carefully typed in the coordinates of Naboo. His father and grandfather always warned him not to put in the wrong coordinates. Though one time when he was flying around with his buddy Poe Dameron (a training cadet in the Coruscant pilot program), he accidentally hit the wrong coordinates and ended up crashing onto Mustafar. He was panicking and worrying whether he would need to spend the rest of his life on the lava planet, when Master Katooni, who was on a mission on Mustafar with her new Padawan (her daughter), spotted him lurking around the bunkers, and informed the Council about her discovery before picking him up. When he was back on Coruscant, Finn, yet another training cadet, and Poe, who had a wonderful spin around space, rolled around with laughter when they heard about his adventure. He was sorely tempted to call Finn 'Traitor' or Force-choke them both.

The fighter shot into hyperspace, and for once, Ben allowed himself to sit back and enjoy the silver swirls of light speed.

* * *

Hux spotted a TIE fighter flying out of the Star Destroyer, and flying into space. He quickly put on his coat, and rushed off to the hangar commander terminal. Ever since the Stormtrooper traitor and that Resistance pilot escaped with that TIE fighter, he started to grow suspicious whenever TIE fighters were leaving the ship. Couldn't blame him, right?

' Commander, who is flying that TIE?' He pointed at the TIE.

The same Commander gulped, ' Um, it's Kylo Ren, Sir.'

' Kylo Ren?' Hux raised an eyebrow. ' Right. He's on leave. Where is he going?'

' Naboo, Sir.'

Hux's confusion was priceless, ' What?! Naboo out of all planets? For what?'

' He said he wanted to visit the waterfalls and lakes, Sir. There is also a er, limited Gungan water show in the water park.'

Hux groaned, ' That sounds like Ren. He's a child. Thank you, Commander.'

* * *

Fortunately, no one recognised Ben on Naboo, so he could just walk around and buy his favourite treats. Or even if someone noticed, they didn't care. The First Order didn't have much control over Naboo, because it was ruled by the Queen.

He walked back to the woods with his large bag of shuura fruit flavoured candies, and clambered up his TIE. This time, he would be going to D'Qar.

He realised he was extremely tired when his fighter shot into hyperspace. A small nap wouldn't hurt, right?

But the moment he closed his eyes, he found himself standing on a beautiful green field. He whirled around to find a green haired lady looking at him. Her facial expression didn't match the peaceful atmosphere, because she sure looked frustrated, and slightly angry.

' Ben Solo,' She said. ' I finally found you. You have no idea how much time I have spent trying to look for you.'

Ben was alarmed, and he nearly whipped out his lightsaber. But then, he thought, _wait, she knows my real name._ He relaxed a little bit, but his hand still hovered over the hilt.

' Who are you?' He asked.

' Let's see, your grandfather Anakin Skywalker and Master Caleb Dume, whom you respect a lot, didn't tell you about me?' She smoothed out the wrinkles on her pale, shimmering dress. Ben shook his head.

She shrugged, ' Well, I knew it. I am the Daughter, the personification of the Light side of the Force, and a Force wielder. And I want to tell you that dimension and time travel are possible. You just travelled around 14 years into the future, thanks to the work of my brother the Son, who is the personification of the Darkness. I must find him to get you back to your own timeline, but he's missing. Even my father can't find him.'

' I know, but how?' Ben frowned. ' What is this world? Why is it so messed up?'

' It is a very long story. But to make things short, the Master Caleb Dume you know and your grandfather travelled to the future, this timeline, thanks to my brother again. They saw what happened, and were horrified by it, so when they got back to the past, they worked hard to fight against it. They killed the Sith,' She smiled thinly. ' Once they changed the past, the two timelines, future and past, split into two, and they co-existed together.'

' So...' Ben's head was trying to register the information. ' You mean... I'm from the altered timeline? And now I am in the original one? This is crazy. My grandfather and Master Caleb never told me about this.'

' Oh, no he didn't,' The Daughter said thoughtfully. ' Only both of them know about it.'

' What? The others don't know? What about Uncle Luke, my mother, my father, my grandmother, Ahsoka and the others?' Ben demanded.

' Nope,' The Daughter said. ' Well, Ben Solo, Caleb Dume told you that he exposed a Sith Lord's identity on the Holonet, and didn't he ask you not to tell anyone about it? Have you ever thought how he managed to do that? And why he didn't let you tell anyone about it?'

Ben's mouth was dry. True, he never thought much about it. He was too busy to even suspect it. But he should have known, because the Jedi history textbooks didn't say much about the downfall of the Sith lord.

' See? You're getting it,' The Daughter's smile was replaced with a serious expression. ' Now... Ben Solo, you are in a very dangerous situation.'

' Um... Why?'

' You are flying into the Resistance territory, in a First Order ship. They are going to try to shoot you down without a moment of hesitation,' She pointed out.

Ben wanted to hit himself.

' And even if you survive and manage to get off the ship,' The Daughter said. ' The Resistance warriors will try to kill you. You'll need some protection. To prove that you are not Kylo Ren, but Ben Solo.'

' I know,' Ben cried. ' But no one will believe me!'

' That's why I'm here to help you,' The Daughter said. ' My brother landed you in this mess, and I won't just sit down and let him fool around. Once you get down to the Resistance Base, if people start to attack you, ask for Ezra Bridger. Tell them that you wish to speak to Ezra Bridger.'

' Ezra? Master Ezra? He's alive?' He remembered the happy former Padawan of Master Caleb, who liked spending his time in the archives.

' Yes, he and his Master escaped the Knights of Ren with the help of the Ghost Crew,' She said. ' Bring him a message from me. Tell him "The Daughter asks you if you remember about Caleb Dume, the little Padawan who liked cookies and called Kanan Older-me?". You'll probably be safe afterwards. Then tell him everything. He'll believe you.'

' Are you sure?' Ben didn't like the idea of being hit to death by an angry crowd of Resistance members.

' Oh yes he will,' She said. ' Now... I'm away for too long. It's time for you to return to the reality.' She waved her hand, and Ben found himself waking up in his fighter.

With another belching noise, the fighter shot out of hyperspace, and next to the planet D'Qar.

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Rey hopped around lightly, sniffing around while she tried to sense her Uncle Luke through the Force. And Kylo could only stand behind her, slightly gobsmacked by the fact that a five year old kid could be so advanced in using the Force.

' There,' She clapped her hands in delight. ' He's in the archives.'

Kylo sulkily followed her into the archives.

She skipped past the tall shelves of holos and books, and squealed, ' Uncle Luke!' Kylo mentally groaned and braced himself for who he was going to face.

Luke Skywalker, still looking very young, was holding a whole stack of data pads and holo disks. ' Oh, Rey,' He smiled, which was kind of hard, seeing that he was concentrating on not to drop the books. Kylo secretly wanted to use the Force and tip them over. But he figured out Luke would ask him to help him with picking the stuff up.

' Ben, I see that you are finally awake,' he joked. ' How was your nap?'

' Great,' He lied.

' Well then, that's wonderful, because I have a task for you,' Luke staggered to the nearest table and set the books onto it. ' Research and write about the fighting tactics used in the Clone Wars. 50,000 words.' He used the Force to toss some holodisks at Kylo. ' These should help you. And Father's tales might help you too. See you later, goodbye.' And he walked away.

Kylo was literally boiling from his anger. What?! His stupid uncle was asking him to write a stupid essay for him?

Rey laughed, ' That's great, Ben! Can I read your essay when it's done?' And she skipped away.

He sank down into the nearest seat, still seething. He had nothing to do anyways, and since there were other Padawans sitting next to him, doing their own work, he had to doing something. He stuck one of the disks into the computer, and started watching the video of a battle in the Clone Wars.

He was in a very bad mood at the end of the first video. He didn't care much about Form I fighting techniques. Unfortunately, his old habits rose up, and he whipped out his lightsaber from his belt, rose it above his head, ready to slash the computer into ribbons. He enjoyed slashing at equipment with his lightsaber (it calmed him), though he was quite sure the technicians, Hux or Phasma didn't appreciate it as much.

' Ben? What are you doing?' A surprised voice said. A certain dark haired Jedi Master rushed towards him. Kylo froze, caught in act, still holding his lightsaber above his head. The Padawans sitting near him were peering at him curiously - no, they weren't alarmed, they were just curious at what the famous Ben Solo was doing.

He recognised the Master as Jedi Master Ezra Bridger, from his days in the Yavin 4 Jedi Temple. He used to be a Jedi Knight, but was made a Master when he was about 6 years old or something. Then, he was involved in bringing more young initiates to the Temple with the help of some others, so when Kylo became a Padawan and was starting to drift towards the Dark Side, he only saw Ezra once in two years. He wasn't entirely sure if he had died, yet. He didn't care much about it.

But now... Ezra Bridger was standing in front of him, looking at his lightsaber.

' I... I was looking at my lightsaber, Master,' Kylo decided to be polite.

' Looking at your lightsaber? For what?' The Jedi Master asked curiously.

' Um, I was just polishing it,' Kylo said. ' There was this weird... Er, grey smudge on the metal. Yeah.' He hooked the lightsaber back to his belt to hide the fact that he was lying.

At this, the Padawans returned to their work. Ezra laughed, ' Okay. But be careful. You don't want to suddenly hit the ignition switch and accidentally vaporise the computer. Madam Jocasta would be so mad if someone vaporised a computer when I was on duty. See you, Ben. I need to help Master Billaba with a data file.'

Once Ezra was gone, Kylo heaved a sigh. His life was totally messed up.

 **Ahh. I'm totally drowning in feels these days. I was rewatching some Clone Wars episodes. The good old days.**

 **My friend and I were comforting each other. She was totally dying from serious Scully and Mulder X-Files season finale feels, and I was dying from the Star Wars Rebels temporary hiatus (I know we are going to have a sneak peek of the new season soon but still) and Clone Wars Season 5 + Twilight of the Apprentice feels. XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**So the first part will be about Rey and Luke. :P And sorry, the altered timeline is very short this time.**

(Original Timeline)

Rey was delighted to know that Finn woke up from his coma while she was away to find Luke Skywalker. He was healing up pretty nicely, but he needed a temporary walking cane whenever he walked around, since his leg injuries were still healing.

She was ever so delighted that Luke decided to return with her. He was slightly reluctant at first, but when he heard that Rey had come on Leia's behalf, and that she needed a teacher, he promptly agreed.

Once he got off the Falcon, Leia welcomed him by yelling at him in front of the Resistance members (they were extremely amused) for leaving without a note and blaming everything on himself etc etc. But they reconciled later with a big hug, and Leia allowed 3PO to take Luke to his new quarters. Needless to say, 3PO and R2 had a lot to say to him.

Rey visited him after an hour with Finn and Poe, and Luke was talking to two people. Luke warmly introduced them to Rey. They were called Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus, former Jedi Masters in Luke's Order before *cough* Kylo Ren *cough* came along and destroyed everything. According to Ezra, they were on a mission with their crew to seek for new Jedi initiates at the time, so when they returned to Yavin with some new initiates, they were most shocked to see the base smoking and burning, and they learnt what had happened.

They bowed politely at Rey, bowed once more to Luke, and exited the room.

' Rey, I want to talk to you about your future training,' Luke smiled.

Poe looked startled, ' Oh, Master Skywalker, we'll be leaving you two alone. Sorry for intruding.'

' No, it's okay, Poe. Finn, do sit down, and please put your cane here. Yes, that will do,' Luke said gently. ' And please call me Luke.'

' Okay... Luke,' Poe and Finn said, hesitating.

' Alright, I want you to-' Luke was about to begin, but a loud wailing noise of the warning sirens interrupted his sentence.

' What was that?' Rey said, alarmed. ' Fire alarm?'

Poe stood up at once, ' Worse. Intruders.'

Finn gasped, ' The First Order? But... It can't be.'

' Possibly,' Luke said gravely. ' Let's get outside.'

* * *

Ben knew he was in big trouble (or yousa in big _dudu_ , according to Uncle Jar Jar), when sirens started to wail as he descended into the atmosphere.

From the fighter, he could see that the beautiful green plains were dotted with buildings, and it was obvious that the Resistance already knew of his intrusion, since people in bright orange uniforms were starting to flood out of the buildings.

The canons started to shoot at him, and he had to dodge the bolts. He spun the fighter like crazy, but it was impossible to avoid all of them, since he was pretty sure all the Resistance canons were aiming at him. A loud thunder-like clap notified him that his fighter was hit.

' Oh, no,' He groaned.

He had no choice but ignite his red sizzling blade, slash the windshield open, and dropped out of the fighter. He was aware that the thing exploded seconds after he fell out, because balls of flame were flying everywhere. The canons stopped shooting at once.

Ahsoka taught him how to survive high falls by using the Force, and he was pretty good at landing. One time, when his speeder suddenly caught on fire in mid air, he jumped out of immediately, fell down, and landed directly onto another speeder. Coincidentally, Senator Bail Organa was driving it. He didn't mind, but his mother, who knew Senator Organa pretty well, was extremely alarmed by it and made him apologise.

He executed a perfect flip, and landed softly onto the ground. But that wasn't the end of his troubles, because the Resistance warriors noticed where the TIE pilot had ended and were starting to run over to his landing spot.

A female Resistance pilot spotted Ben, and she shrieked in terror, ' REN! IT'S KYLO REN!' His name spread like wildfire amongst the Resistance, and all of them were extremely stunned by the fact that the notoriously evil Kylo Ren was trying to fly into their base.

Ben was ready to back away. Sure, he was a good Jedi Padawan. But there was simply no way he could survive a thousand blaster bolts aimed at him even if he had a lightsaber with him. Even his grandfather couldn't do that.

Suddenly, there was a murmuring amongst the crowd, and a single person walked out of it. A girl.

He had no idea who that was. But her signature hairstyle, eyes and facial expression gave away her identity. Rey. Only that she was a pretty grown-up lady.

Ben was almost in awe at how his sweet, cute, little sister would look like in the future, but he certainly was daunted by the murderous expression on her face. Without using the Force, he knew she was furious. Really furious.

If looks could kill, he would be disintegrated in a second.

' YOU MONSTER!' She spat.

Another voice shouted, ' Rey, he's armed with a lightsaber-'

Too late. She was starting to hit him with her quarterstaff.

Ben was almost tempted to use his lightsaber, but he remembered he couldn't hurt his sister. Instead, he tried dodging her insanely swift blows.

' Ow! Ow! Stop it!' He shouted, narrowly avoiding a sharp swipe to his head. ' I come in peace, okay? Stop hitting me!'

' Oh yeah?' She gritted her teeth, and delivered a blow to his leg.

The people started to cheer. Someone shouted again, ' Rey! Be careful! He has a lightsaber! Get back here. We'll deal with it.' Reluctantly, Rey ran back into the crowd, and the Resistance members started shooting at Ben with their blasters.

* * *

Luke was watching the Resistance tackle Kylo Ren with Leia at the command area.

' Luke, it's Ben,' She whispered. ' He's here.'

' I know,' Luke said. He almost wanted to correct Leia. That was Kylo Ren. He wished he had the same kind of optimism he had when he was trying to redeem his father. But Kylo Ren had fallen so far. He killed all his fellow Jedi friends, teachers, then his father, and showed no sympathy or remorse at what he had done.

Worst of all, he worshipped Darth Vader like an idol. Luke had no idea what his father thought about this. Ghost-Anakin made no attempt to show up in the human world. He had not been seen for nearly ten years.

But while he watched on, he realised something was clearly not right.

There was no way Kylo Ren would come to the base without any Stormtroopers or backup help. Surely, he could have a thousand Star Destroyers surrounding the base and have them all storm the planet on his call, but it wasn't a very Kylo-Ren-like plan.

Secondly, he wasn't using his lightsaber. If Luke were Kylo Ren, he would snatch his lightsaber from his belt, and slice Rey's staff in half. But the Kylo Ren in the holo wasn't making any attempt to defend himself from Rey's attacks. He was dodging rather than going for offence. Again, it was a very un-Kylo-Ren move.

Finally, blaster bolts were raining down on Kylo. He could easily have stopped them with the Force. Luke invented the art of stopping blaster bolts with the Force. Ahsoka and Kanan were the first to master it after Luke. Luke, not knowing that Kylo had already fallen to the Dark, taught him the skill. And well, before Luke could spread the skill, Kylo Ren stormed the Jedi Order.

Looking back at the holo, Kylo Ren was hopping around, shrieking in fear and avoiding the bolts like a distraught chicken. Well, Luke was sure he could stop a hundred blaster bolts if he concentrated. He was also sure that Kylo could at least stop around twenty bolts with the least effort. Then why in the name of the Force didn't he do so? Instead, he chose to hop and avoid the bolts.

Something was wrong.

Leia seemed to sense something was very wrong too, because she frowned. ' Leia, something is wrong,' Luke said. ' I'm going out.'

He ran out of the building, and out to where the commotion was. He was right. That couldn't be Kylo Ren. Because 'Kylo' was currently screaming and dodging the bolts.

' STOP!' Luke cried over the noise, but apparently everyone was cheering and couldn't hear his cry.

He closed his eyes, used the Force to stop all the flying bolts in midair. On a second thought, he also used the Force to summon all the blasters onto the small bit of ground in front of him.

Everyone gasped, and turned to look at the legendary Jedi Master. Ben fell to the ground in exhaustion.

' I'll deal with him,' Luke said. ' Everyone, go about your business.' The members started to clear away with much disappointment, leaving behind Rey, Poe and Finn, who walked to stand behind Luke.

Once everyone was gone except for them, Luke waved his hand. The frozen blaster bolts shot into the air like fireworks, and exploded.

' Why do you come here, Kylo Ren?' Luke said, keeping a hand on his lightsaber.

' I... I am not Kylo Ren!' 'Kylo' said desperately.

' You're not Kylo Ren?' Rey said sarcastically. ' You wear the face and speak in the voice of Kylo Ren.'

' Uncle, you must believe me,' 'Kylo' said, and Luke blanched.

' Ben?' Luke whispered.

' Yes Uncle, please. I need to speak to Ezra Bridger,' 'Kylo' said. ' I have a message... From the Daughter.'

It appeared that 'the Daughter' was a magic word. Recognition flashed in Luke's blue eyes, and he nodded immediately, ' I'll bring you to Ezra. Come on, get up.'

Rey, Finn and Poe's eyes widened when Luke actually treated the evil Kylo Ren as his friend. ' Master Skywalker,' Finn seemed fearful. ' That is Kylo Ren, you surely can't-'

' It's alright,' Luke said. ' I'll look after him. Make sure he doesn't do anything, okay? Um, go find Leia and tell her everything is under control. And Kylo Ren is with me.'

Poe wanted to argue, but he knew better than to argue against the legendary Jedi hero. They nodded stiffly.

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Kylo worked hard to keep himself calm. He stooped so low as to do Luke Skywalker's stupid breathing routines to make himself look like an obedient Jedi. So he was rather amazed when he managed to finish watching the stack of Clone Wars footages. The ones that had his grandfather in it were the best.

Before he could start on the data files, his uncle appeared and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

' Ben, the Council has called for us,' He said.

' Let me guess,' Kylo groaned inwardly. ' A mission?'

' Yep,' Luke nodded. ' There is trouble in the Coruscant lower levels. Now.. Come with me to the Council chambers.'

* * *

It was probably one of the most terrifying moments in his life.

Kylo was standing next to his uncle in front of a room of Jedi Masters. He wasn't sure why, but it was even more terrifying than standing in front of the Supreme Leader Snoke.

He scanned the room briefly. Hmm... The Jedi Council consisted of a Mirialan, a Togrutan woman etc etc, and... His grandfather, the Master Caleb Dume person from earlier, Ahsoka... Hm.

' Obi-wan isn't here,' His grandfather droned. He had changed into a fresh set of Jedi robes, but he looked very tired. ' So I'm taking over for the time being bla bla bla. Oh no. I'm just kidding. Master Dume, please.'

' Eh,' Caleb jolted. ' Right, thank you, Master Skywalker. Now... Master Skywalker...'

' Which one are you referring to?' Ahsoka joked.

Caleb said, ' Master _Luke_ Skywalker. Yes. There were, um, reports of trouble in the Coruscant lower levels. And the Council would like you and your Padawan to investigate the source.'

Kylo wrinkled his nose, ' What kind of problem, Masters?'

' Civilians reckon it is a monster,' Anakin frowned. ' They say it, um, eats up their speeders, destroy buildings and make weird noises. I don't think so. It might be a Sith Lord, guys.'

' Yeah, a Sith Lord that eats up speeders, destroys buildings and makes weird noises,' Ahsoka snorted. ' Obviously not, Drama Queen. Well, that's it.'

The unknown Mirialan Master smiled, ' Go down to the lower levels, investigate, and bring back the source if you must.'

' We will, Masters,' Luke bowed respectfully, and Kylo grudgingly followed suit.

' May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker and Padawan Solo,' Master Dume said kindly.

 **Whoop whoop a new mission! XD**

 **Here's the Me and Star Wars part...**

 ***in geography lesson***

 **Teacher: We will be learning about deserts this year. First... Let's talk about sand. Discuss amongst yourselves the qualities of sand, and share it with the class later.**

 **Classmate #1: Sand is grainy.**

 **Classmate #2: Uh it's golden...? Right...?**

 **Classmate #3: Well, sand from the beach is soft and comfortable. I like sand.**

 **Me: NOOOOOOOOOOO SAND IS NOT LIKE THAT. IT'S COARSE AND ROUGH AND IRRITATING. AND IT GETS EVERYWHEREEEEEEEE.**

 **Classmate #1: Calm down.**

 **Btw, this is completely unrelated. But I have recently joined the HTTYD fandom (hello any HTTYD fans here? Did I mention how cute Toothless is?) XD Now I'm in a total 16 fandoms. Let the collection grow!**


	6. Chapter 6

(Original Timeline)

Ezra was meditating upon a stack of cushions, and he kept his eyes closed even when Luke and Ben entered.

' Kylo Ren, I've been expecting you,' Ezra said calmly.

' How did you know he's here?' Luke said, sounding rather amused.

' The Force,' Ezra opened his eyes, and stood up. ' Well well well, Kylo Ren. I've heard a lot about you.'

' I am not Kylo Ren, Master Bridger,' Ben said, feeling weird. He wasn't quite used to seeing Ezra with a beard.

Ezra stared at him. For one second, Ben panicked. Then, the Master laughed heartily, ' Good, good. Very interesting. You have something to say to me, don't you, boy?'

Ben said, ' Yes, Master. I have a message from the Daughter. Is the name familiar to you?'

Ezra flashed Luke an astonished look, and nodded slowly, ' Yes...? What did she say?'

' She asked if you remember, um, Master- I mean, Caleb Dume. The, uh, the little Padawan that likes cookies and called Kanan Older-me. Sorry. None of this make much sense to me.'

' Oh, yes. But they do make sense, to me,' An expression of incredulous joy spread over Ezra's face. Luke seemed to look a bit pleased too.

Poor Ben gawked at them, ' Um, sorry? What do you mean?'

' Ah, you are Ben Solo, from good old Anakin and little Caleb's time, aren't you?' Ezra stroked his beard thoughtfully, putting up an 'Obi-wan Kenobi' look.

' Yes, I am,' Ben said, relieved. ' The time with no, um Sith Lords. Or Kylo Ren. I was brought here against my wishes.'

' Let me guess,' Luke grinned. ' The Son did _this_ to you.'

' Yeah,' Ben winced. ' The Daughter did mention that it was the Son's work.'

Ezra glanced apologetically at Ben, ' This is not much of a surprise. And I believe the Son has done the same to our very own Kylo Ren. I'm afraid he's currently stuck in your time, Ben.'

Ben gagged, ' Oh no. Do you mean the real, evil Kylo Ren is stuck in my world?'

' Yep.'

' He'll ruin everything!' Ben murmured. ' He's running loose in my world? That's horrible! He'll kill my parents and friends!'

' Don't worry. You belong to the Jedi Order, don't you? Kylo won't be able to do anything disastrous with a thousand Jedi looking after him,' Luke laughed. ' Now, why don't you sit down and tell us a bit about Anakin and Caleb? We haven't seen them or heard about them in a long, long time. Oh, before that, I'll have to try calling someone.'

' Who?' Ben said, alarmed.

' Someone, whom I haven't seen in a long time too,' Luke said. ' Or at least, I haven't even tried summoning him.' He raised his voice, ' Father? Are you here? I know it's been a long time, but are you here?'

Ben watched in fascination as the air in front of him started shimmer, and a blue apparition materialised with a dramatic pop. A Force ghost, Ben recognised.

' Lukey, Luke, my dear boy,' The ghost said happily. ' Finally! It's my beloved son who is summoning me, not that strange little Sith youngling whom I have been purposely avoiding-' He stopped abruptly when he spotted Ben and shrieked, ' Oh no look there he is!'

' Calm down, Father,' Luke gestured to Ben. ' He is Ben Solo, from the other timeline. Long story. It's the Son's work.'

' Ah,' The ghost didn't look happy. ' I see. So this is the Light side version of my grandson. Not the youngling that horrible Snoke is manipulating?'

Ben looked at the ghost. It looked like... His grandfather.

' Grandfather!' He said. ' You are a Force-ghost? Aha, Ahsoka would be so delighted.'

' And you don't seem surprised,' Ghost-Anakin commented.

' Well, Force-Ghosts are everywhere in the Temple,' Ben explained. ' Master Yoda learned the necessary skills from Master Qui-gon. And he is teaching everyone. Many older Jedi in the Temple are Force-ghosts now. Such as... Let's see... Master Yoda, Master Windu, Master Mundi, etc etc. They don't do much nowadays, they just meditate, appear wherever they like and talk to the new batch of Jedi Padawans.' Ghost-Anakin sniggered.

' So, if Master Yoda and Master Windu are now Force-ghosts,' Ezra asked. ' Who are the Grandmaster and Head of the Council? What happened to the Jedi Council?'

' Oh, the Council has been reformed. Master Obi-wan is the current Grandmaster.'

' WHAT?!' Ghost-Anakin yelped in horror. ' The Old Man is the Grandmaster? They'll be telling me Snips is on the High Council and wampas can fly.'

' You mean Master Ahsoka? Oh yes, she IS on the Council,' Ben stifled a grin. Ghost-Anakin pretended to faint. ' They were going to make you the Grandmaster, but you said you didn't want it. Some Masters gave up their seats, like Master Plo and Master Tiin. So now, Ahsoka, Master Unduli, Master Secura, and you, grandfather, are on the Council. Oh, and Master Caleb is the new Head of Council. Ah, nearly forgot about this. Obi-wan is thinking of retiring soon, and he will give the Grandmaster title to Ahsoka.' Ghost-Anakin gasped.

Ezra smiled widely, ' Kanan is the Head of the Council? That's so cool!'

' Who's Kanan?' Ben stared blankly at him.

' Ohhh, you don't know? In order to avoid any suspicion, Caleb Dume in this timeline changed his name to Kanan Jarrus after Order 66. We all know him as Kanan,' Luke said.

' Kanan Jarrus? The rancor?' Ben laughed.

' Pardon me?' Ezra said.

' They say Master Caleb once smuggled a baby rancor into the Jedi Temple. He named it Kanan Jarrus,' Ben said between his fits of laughter. ' We had no idea where that name came from, except grandfather, who refused to tell us. Of course, Master Windu forced him to give his rancor away. For four times, Master Caleb tried to smuggle it in, but Master Windu found it out. Finally, they sold poor Kanan the rancor to some collector in the Coruscant lower levels.'

Ezra, Luke and Ghost-Anakin bursted out in violent laughter. ' Oh, b-by the Force!' Ezra wiped his eyes. ' Caleb named a rancor after Kanan! This is the best thing ever! Oh, I'm so proud of him.'

' Yeah, my little sister likes to listen to stories about Kanan Jarrus the rancor,' Ben said.

' You have a sister?' Ezra goggled at him.

' Ah,' Luke closed his eyes.

' Right,' Ben said, confused. ' Rey is my sister. Wait, isn't it the same here? Well, she was trying to kill me and stuff...'

Ezra's eyes widened to the size of saucers and stared at the Skywalkers.

' Um, it's kind of a secret,' Luke said nervously. ' Yes, it's the same in this timeline. But only a selected few know about it.'

' But... But...' Ezra was lost for words. ' Wait... Leia... She didn't even... What?'

' Oh, you are confused, Ezra,' Ghost-Anakin. ' Very long story. It's supposed to be a secret.'

' Right, keep it a secret then. I don't need to know, so don't tell me,' Ezra held up his hand.

Luke nodded, ' Sure. Now we need to think of a cover story for Ben. People still think he is Kylo Ren, but we can't tell them of where he came from.'

' Oh, I might have a good one,' Ezra smiled.

* * *

(Altered timeline)

Kylo and his Master hopped onto a speeder, and drove to the lower levels of Coruscant. Kylo wasn't happy about the mission, but at least it got him away from this terrible Temple.

He tried to enjoy himself and appreciate the beauty of the Imperial Center, no, Coruscant. He told himself that was where his wonderful grandfather worked.

They got away from the fancy, shiny areas of Coruscant, into the dim, damp corners of the lower levels. ' There might be trouble,' Luke kept a hand on his lightsaber. ' Come on, Ben. Follow me. We'll hide behind these bins and wait. According to the Council, this monster or something lurks around here all the time.'

Kylo wrinkled his nose, and did ask Luke asked. He crouched carefully behind some bins, and waited. He had only waited for a minute or so, when a thunderous, terrifying roar erupted from the side of an alley. A chill went down his spine.

Dude, he told himself, you are Kylo Ren, you are not supposed to be frightened of anything, but he couldn't help but wonder where the noise came from. It couldn't be a monster, right? Monsters didn't exist.

' Master-'

' Shh,' Luke shushed him. Holding his lightsaber, he crept around the bins to have a better look at the alley, when a giant hand nearly clouted him.

' Woah!' He Force-jumped several miles away from the area, and ignited his lightsaber.

Kylo tried to escape, but a massive claw swiped at his legs, and he tripped to the ground. The next thing he knew, the single claw lifted his legs, until he was hanging upside down in front of a giant face of a beast. He fought hard not to gag as he faced the thing's ugly, yellow teeth.

' BEN!' Luke shouted.

He kicked and screamed, desperately writhing around to loosen the grip of the thing, but it didn't work. He was sorely tempted to Force-choke it, but that would definitely alarm Luke.

' It's a rancor, Ben!' Luke exclaimed, trying to get a good look of the creature.

' Great!' Kylo shrieked, still hanging. ' I'm going to die! It's going to eat me.' He wanted to shout at his uncle for not helping him, because Luke just stood there quietly, observing the rancor.

' No it won't,' Luke said. ' It's probably tame. A tame rancor? Hang on, I think I know where it came from...' He flashed Kylo an excited grin.

' I DON'T CARE,' Ben screamed, and the rancor used its other claw to swat at him. He narrowly dodged the blow. ' GET ME OFF!' He was so angry at his uncle that he could produce some Sith lightning on the spot if he concentrated.

' Keep it busy, Ben,' Luke fished out his holoprojector. ' I'm going to call Caleb.'

Kylo had no idea what Luke was babbling on about. He was too busy holding his breath and avoid inhaling the breath of the rancor. It smelled horribly of rotten meat.

A small blue figure of Caleb Dume appeared over the holoprojector. ' What's up, Luke? Have you found anything yet?'

' Caleb, we found something, look,' Luke rotated the projector, so that Caleb could have a good look at the rancor, and the dangling Kylo Ren.

' A rancor,' Caleb said. ' Interesting. And is that Ben? Haha! He's upside down!' Kylo let out a frustrated roar.

' Yes, it's a rancor,' Luke said impatiently. ' But not it's not a random rancor. Look closely. I think he might be...'

Caleb leaned in and squinted hard at the rancor. Then, he gasped dramatically, ' Oh, my! Is that... Kanan! It's Kanan!'

' Kanan WHAT?' Kylo bellowed. The rancor was happily jerking him around like a puppet.

' Kanan Jarrus! My pet rancor!' The well-respected Jedi Master was flapping his arms like a frantic chicken. ' He has been lost! For so many years-'

' He's not,' Luke said. ' Master Windu just sold it.'

' You know nothing,' Caleb hissed. ' You were just a baby back then! Stay here, people, I'm coming over.'

' WHAT?' Ben shouted.

' I need to reunite with my beloved rancor,' Caleb said. ' Don't do anything to it, Luke, and keep Benny up there. Kanan is tame, Benny, he won't eat you.'

* * *

A few minutes later, a bright orange speeder descended next to them, and Caleb hopped down from it.

' Kanan! Buddy!' He ran forward madly. Fortunately, the rancor seemed to recognise his former master, dropped Kylo and bounded excitedly over to Caleb.

' There, there, good boy,' Caleb patted 'Kanan the rancor'. ' Luke, you are brilliant! How did you know that he is Kanan?'

' He's tame,' Luke laughed. ' There are not many tame rancors lurking around, and on Coruscant. And he seems to like Ben.'

' _Like_?' Kylo said furiously. ' This thing nearly killed me!'

Kanan roared happily.

' Trust me, Benny, Kanan is tame,' Caleb said. ' But... Shouldn't he be staying with that um, collector guy?'

' Kanan must have escaped,' Luke pointed out. ' He has probably been out here for ages, hunting for food. It's possible that his presence has alarmed the nearby residents, that's all. There's no monster, it's just Kanan.'

' Poor Kanan,' Caleb said. ' Out here lost, lonely and hungry.' Kylo rolled his eyes to hide his disgust.

' So what are we going to do with him?' Luke looked up. ' No offence, Caleb, but we can't have him running around the neighbourhood like that. He'll disturb the nearby residents with all the noise he makes. And he has been stealing food.'

' Easy, we're going to smuggle him back to the Temple,' Caleb sounded pleased. ' And don't say anything to the others. I'll get into trouble. The Council will never let me go.'

' But you are the Head of the Council,' Luke seemed amused. ' You can basically do whatever you want.' He added hastily, 'Not that I think it's a good idea.'

' Yeah! But Master Billaba will kill me,' He shuddered. ' And the ghost of Master Windu will haunt me forever.'

' I have a better idea,' Luke sighed. ' Let's just return him to the collector, and consider this problem solved. Is that right, Ben?'

' Yes, Master,' Kylo agreed with his uncle for once.

' NOOOOOO!' Caleb wailed. ' You can't take Kanan away from me!'

At that point, Kylo raised an eyebrow, flashed Luke a baffled look that clearly said _are you seriously telling me they made this guy the Head of the Jedi Council?_

' Come on, bro,' Luke negotiated with him. ' It won't be that bad! We need to make sure he gets out of this neighbourhood! We can return him to that collector, and you can always come back to visit him. Sounds like a plan?'

Caleb reluctantly agreed.

' Excellent,' Luke sighed. ' Go get your pet rancor and take us to that collector. You remember where he lives, right?'

 **Caleb being crazy... XD**

 **Hi guys, sorry for disappearing! I was in a summer program, and it has just ended. :P The best thing is that nearly all of my group mates are Star Wars fans and we had loads of fun! :D**

 **Wow, speaking of Star Wars, I watched the Ahsoka story panel and the new Season 3 trailer. I mean, WOW! Incredible! So excited! XDD**

 **Hmm... I find the lack of Star Wars Rebels episodes disturbing. Meanwhile, I shall watch some more HTTYD to ease the pain.**


	7. Chapter 7

(Original Timeline)

Ben wished to congratulate Ezra for his creativity. In the next hour, he fabricated an entire, perfect story, and generously allowed Luke to spread it around.

Apparently the First Order was trying to reuse some Kaminoan cloning technology to clone Kylo Ren, and Ben was supposed to be the first clone. But the experiment had failed. This poor, innocent 'clone of Kylo Ren' had no recollection of the First Order, Knights of Ren, extinction of the Jedi and whatsoever, and he only had the memories of Kylo Ren before he turned to the Dark Side. The First Order locked this clone up, and had abandoned the experiment shortly after. And the said 'clone' eventually broke out of prison when the Starkiller Base blew up.

The tale was both perfect and terrifying. And since Luke (the legendary Jedi Master, famous X-Wing Pilot, the courageous hero who defeated Vader and the Emperor etc etc) was the one to spread this story, the people believed it without a doubt, though they were still kind of skeptical of letting this clone of Kylo Ren live with them. Luke secretly pulled a very distressed Leia aside and told her about this Ben Solo.

However, Ezra and Luke decided that Rey, Poe and Finn should learn about the truth as well, and summoned them to Ezra's quarters. All three of them looked livid, because they had heard about the 'story' in the hangar bays and mess hall from their fellow commanders and friends. Before Rey could lunge forward and try to kill Ben with her staff, Luke made them sit down and told them the true version of what had happened.

By the end of it, they were no longer angry, but were extremely suspicious. ' So,' Rey said warily. ' You are a _good_ Jedi, aren't you?'

' I am,' Ben answered. ' Not a fully-fledged one though. I am just a Padawan learner, taught by Master Luke.'

' Cool,' Finn breathed. ' Time travel is incredible... And... Dimension travel? I didn't know that was possible!'

' You guys can keep on talking,' Luke stood up with Ezra.

Once the two Jedi Masters were gone, Rey blurted out, ' What is your time like?'

Ben said, startled, ' Well... Coruscant is peaceful and prosperous under the Senate's rule. The Jedi relinquished their roles of Jedi Generals and went back to being peace keepers of the galaxy. Clones continue to be guards, but they are given civilian statuses and privileges. In place of the Jedi, the Republic are recruiting cadets.'

' You know us, don't you?' Poe said. ' Like, do we exist in your time?'

' I know you all,' He smiled thinly. ' Poe, Finn, you are training cadets in the Coruscant pilot program for future Republic guards. We knew each other when you two assisted my master and I in a diplomatic mission on a former Separatist planet. And Rey, uh, you are a young Jedi initiate in the Temple, almost ready to construct your first lightsaber. We are friends.'

' Hm, if we are all friends, then do you know who are my parents?' Rey was almost afraid to ask.

' Um,' Ben lied. ' Unfortunately... I don't.' Rey slumped back into her seat, disappointed.

Poe gestured around, ' So, how do you feel about this timeline? Wonderful? Shocking?'

' Terrifying,' Ben said grimly. ' My other self has fallen to the Dark Side. And I know he has killed my father.' At this, Rey, Finn and Poe bowed their heads.

' I witnessed the whole thing,' Rey murmured quietly. ' I'm very sorry.'

' No,' Ben rasped. ' You don't need to be sorry. It's my fault. I should be ashamed on behalf of Kylo for doing this to my father.'

' It's not you,' Poe said. ' You did nothing. Stop beating yourself up. For now, you should get settled here, while we search for ways to send you back to your home timeline, and ah, get Kylo Ren back here.'

Finn gasped, ' Seriously Poe? You want to give this nice Ben away and get that crazy dude back?'

' But it's unfair for Ben to stay here,' Rey nodded. ' As much as we, um, dislike Kylo, we can't force Ben to stay at a place he doesn't belong to. Also, we can hope that Kylo's stay with the Jedi Order can awaken the light in him.' Suddenly, the door slid open and in came Kanan Jarrus.

' Master Jarrus!' Rey jumped slightly. ' I wasn't expecting you.'

' Oh, hi,' Kanan looked around the room, slightly baffled. ' I was actually looking for Ezra. I assume he isn't here, then.'

' He's probably with Master Skywalker,' Finn spoke up.

' Thank you,' Kanan said, and he squinted at Ben. ' Ah, Ben Solo. I met up with Leia at the war room just now, and she told me all about you. I hope you are finding this base comfortable.' When Ben stared at him quizzically, he chuckled, ' It isn't safe out there with the First Order running about, but I can assure you this place is very safe.'

' And the food is great,' Finn muttered dreamily. ' The First Order never treats us to food _that_ good.'

Rey nodded vigorously. She used to think that at times of war, good food would be scarce. At least that was the case on Jakku, because she had been eating from those artificial rations Unkar Plutt ever since she got dumped onto that desert planet. Needless to say, the usual polystarch loaf and veg meat tasted awful. But she needed her strength for all the scavenging, so she had to swallow the food.

However, when she arrived at the Resistance base, the cooks welcomed her warmly with real, hot food. _Real food._ Real organic food. Not the packets of powder. But real food that actually tasted good. She began to stuff herself full at every meal, wolfing down the food despite Poe constantly warning her about choking on food if she ate too fast.

Ben had to remind himself twice that Master Caleb Dume back home and this man were the very same person. Master Caleb was energetic, constantly jumping around and was obsessed with cookies and rancors. But this Jedi Master here... Was different. He was calm, collected and his tone of speaking resembled Master Obi-wan. He reckoned that Order 66 completely changed his bubbly personality.

' Ah yes, the food is excellent,' Kanan winked. ' That reminds me. We are all in luck today. I walked past the kitchens just now, and they are preparing...' His eyes glinted. Rey and Finn's eyes widened in anticipation. ' _Steak.'_

Finn and Rey gasped loudly, as if their wildest dreams had come true. Their emotions slapped Ben in the face through the Force.

' Umm,' Ben said, feeling rather uncomfortable. ' Can we... Not talk about food, for now?'

' But...' Rey breathed. ' It's _steak._ How can you not be excited about it?'

' I've never had steak before. I wonder how it tastes like. They say Hux, Phasma, Ren and all those officials get to have steak. We never do. That's unfair!' Finn pounded his fist on the table, and Poe jumped.

Ben edged away from Finn, ' Ummm... The Jedi Temple chefs always serve us steak. Or we can choose to eat out at Dex's Diner. It's kind of common for Coruscant people and the Jedi, really.'

' COMMON?!' Finn screamed (Poe was starting to have a splitting headache). ' How can this be common? I thought Jedi are supposed to live a non-materialistic life! Did they throw away this rule as well, eh?'

Ben bit his lip. ' Even though the rule of no attachments is lifted, thanks to my grandfather, we still frown upon a too-luxurious life. We keep things simple, but... Jedi have to eat too, don't they?'

' Stormtroopers and scavengers need to eat too, don't they?' Finn scowled.

' That's quite enough,' Poe groaned and rubbed his aching temples.

' Enough of the food talk,' Kanan coughed. ' Now, I must leave to find Ezra. I have something important to say to him. I guess... I'll see you three, no, four later... at dinner, perhaps?' Then, he marched away.

The comlink tied on Rey's wrist buzzed loudly, catching everyone's attention.

She cautiously answered it, ' Rey here.'

' Hi Rey, it's Luke. Leia wants to see Ben. Would you mind taking him over to her quarters?'

' Uh, okay. I'll be coming now.'

' Thank you. See you. Skywalker, out.'

Rey looked up. Ben stared back. Rey nodded towards the door,' Let's go, Solo boy. You heard your uncle. Your mom wants to see you.'

* * *

( Altered Timeline)

It had been a couple days since the crazy rancor accident, and Kylo almost forgot about it, because he was too busy.

Apparently, his mother reminded him that he had promised Ezra (probably before he came here) to help him with his archive duties after his daily lessons and training. Ezra made him do boring stuff such as packing up holodisks in the archives, and scrubbing the computers until they were sparkling clean.

It was dull and again, boring. Force, he had so many better and heroic things to do! Such as, er, talking to his grandfather's helmet, conquering the galaxy and drafting plans to make Rey in his own time his new apprentice.

But Ezra was always so helpful and nice, the cursed light in him always gave him a twinge of guilt whenever he complained to little Rey, who didn't mind listening and innocently promised not to breath a word of his complaint to anyone.

Though his new job gave him the opportunity of hanging around in the archives, and he would search for information about the world he was currently stuck in. It was very complicated, and made his head ache. He figured out he had dimension plus time travelled (easy) and was temporarily stuck in this alternate universe. Worst of all, this Ben Solo that existed here, might have escaped to his very own timeline...

One day, he was in a particularly bad mood (partially because of the summer heat). Ezra made him deliver archive materials and holodisks to Jedi who requested for them. He had to swallow his rage, and knock on each and every door in the morning. Twice, he accidentally walked into Force-ghosts.

In the afternoon, Ezra gave him a fresh set of materials to be delivered to one Jedi Master named Quinlan Vos, whoever that was (Kylo didn't care). It was a bunch of information about the underworld of Coruscant, and strange enough, the history of the Black Sun and the Pyke Syndicate. He again, swallowed his pride and asked Ezra about it.

' Oh, Master Vos has been working hard to fight the Black Sun organisation these 20 or so years,' Ezra explained.

' It took him that long?' Kylo raised his eyebrow. ' How hard is that?'

Ezra sighed, ' I know, it sounds easy. But it's not. They have really cunning warriors. Recently, he decides to take Ahsoka's advice after much hesitation-'

' What?'

' Oh, it's her new motto. To defeat your enemy, you have to understand them,' Ezra shrugged. ' It's true, I think. So now, Quinlan is trying to discover their past, and bla bla bla. Okay, deliver these to him. You are dismissed afterwards. Enjoy your day!'

And so Kylo staggered down the hallways with the load of stuff. Of course he could have just used the Force to hover the things in the air, and let them follow him. But that looked weird, so he stuck with carrying them. He was walking past a couple bronze statues, when a hand came out of nowhere and clapped down on his shoulder. He jumped in alarm, throwing all the stuff onto the floor, and ignited his lightsaber.

' Woah, dude, don't cut off my legs!' Someone shrieked in surprise.

He extinguished his lightsaber, looked miserably at the scattered pile of things at his feet and yelled, ' WHO-'

' It's me, pal,' A boy appeared in front of him. ' Sorry about that... I'll help you pick that up.' Kylo blinked twice at the boy. He sensed that the boy wasn't Force-sensitive, so he couldn't be a Jedi. So who...

It was only when he looked up, Kylo realised who that was. It was the younger version of Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the Resistance. And... The owner of the BB8 unit that the First Order had failed to capture. He was dressed in a bright orange flightsuit (it coincidentally resembled the Rebel Alliance and Resistance flight suit) with the symbol of the Republic printed on his sleeve.

Judging from Poe's playful tone, Kylo guessed they were friends. So he cautiously said, ' Er, hi, Poe.' His gaze landed onto the boy standing next to Poe. He was also dressed in the same flightsuit, and... Was that... FN-2187?!

' TRAITOR!' He blurted out, before he could stop himself. Oh, dear. His cover was blown. But FN-2187 simply sighed, ' You are never going to drop that, aren't you? I told you many times, it was a misunderstanding, bro. Please drop that nickname, and call me Finn, aka, my real name.'

Fine. Finn. He had no idea why Ben Solo would befriend these two. But again, this timeline was rather messed up. He wouldn't be surprised even if someone told him Hux and Phasma had ended up being professional bakers here.

Poe finished gathering up the archive materials and flashed Kylo a toothy grin, ' We got out early from classes. Thought we might hang out together, you know, for old time's sake?' Finn nodded.

' Er,' Kylo said. ' I'd... love to... But I need to deliver these stuff to... Master Vos.'

' Ah, right!' Finn smiled. ' You told me you had promised Master Bridger to help out at the archives! Master Vos, right? It won't take too long. We'll help you get these stuff delivered, and we can go hang out! Come on, Solo, hand us some of the things.'

 _Ugh._ ' Great,' Kylo lied between his teeth. The last thing he needed would be hanging out with these two loathsome Resistance people. They wouldn't want him to shop with them, would they? Kylo hated shopping.

The three boys walked over to the Jedi Master's quarters and gingerly rang the door bell. A Jedi (what's with the yellow tattoo?) opened the door, took the materials from them, muttered 'thanks' and shut the door.

Poe laughed, ' That was quick, I told you! Now... I have a good idea. Let's go fly!'

Kylo secretly breathed out in relief. Flying was so much better than shopping.

' But... Poe,' Finn said. ' Our fighters were sent to the maintenance building.'

' That isn't a problem. There are plenty of extra fighters in this Temple. We can just use them,' Poe waved off.

' But... Those are _Jedi_ fighters! Are you sure we can manage that?' Finn gulped.

' I can fly anything,' Poe winked. ' Besides... I always wanted to fly in a Jedi fighter. And Finn, most fighters have the same principle. Don't worry about it. That's okay with you, Ben, right? I mean, you have your own fighter. You can join us.'

' Yeah,' Kylo nodded. ' Um, it's fine.'

' Great! Let's go!' Poe beamed.

 **:DDD**

 **I have bought two Star Wars books from my trip, Dark Disciple and Darth Plagueis! XDDD I'm halfway through Dark Disciple, and it's really good! I wanted to buy Bloodline and the Darth Bane books look kinda interesting too, but my backpack ran out of space :(**

 **Aaaaand, this is completely unrelated but...**

 **THEY FINALLY RELEASED THE SHERLOCK SEASON 4 TRAILER! ASDFGHJKL! I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN-**

 **Whoops. Sorry. Wrong fandom. XD**

 **Anywaaaaays... Please review! :D And feel free to write down whatever you want to see in this fic!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Note, Ben has to refer to his mother in the original timeline as 'Leia', because that would be really confusing if he refers to both 'Leia's as his mother. Thanks! :D**

(Original Timeline)

' Enter,' Leia's calm voice came through the door.

Rey carefully opened the door, and ushered Ben in. He found himself standing in the middle of a large office-like room.

The quarters of General Leia Organa Solo was very much like his mother's quarters in the Temple, except the walls weren't left plain. Every inch of the beige coloured walls were covered with giant war diagrams, flashy Resistance posters ('recruiting X-wing pilots') and a multicoloured painting (looks like spray-paint) of that bird-like logo that adorned Poe's flightsuit and everyone else's uniforms. He made a mental note to ask Poe about it later. With all these colours on the walls, Ben felt like he was standing inside an art gallery.

Leia and Luke appeared to be standing behind a blue hologram of some kind of map of the galaxy. A silver and blue droid was it. R2-D2, he recognised with astonishment, his grandfather's astromech droid. R2 liked to fly with him whenever his grandfather wasn't on a mission (yep, he had been sharing an astromech droid with his grandfather... Poe said he really should apply for his own one. Maybe, Poe, maybe). But it seemed that R2 didn't like him much here, because he trilled and whistled in alarm (' _Oh Sith is that Kylo Ren? He has found us!'_ ) when he saw him enter.

' It's okay, buddy,' Luke placed a hand on R2's dome. ' He's not Kylo Ren.'

R2 beeped in confusion, _' What do you mean, Luke? Heck, he looks like Kylo Ren!'_

' It's complicated, R2. Tell you later. Why don't you go outside and um, play with 3PO?' Luke sighed.

R2 whistled in protest.

' What about Chopper?' Whistle.

' Fine. Hang out with BB8.'

The droid rolled past Ben, gave him a slightly distrustful trill and a cheerful whistle to Rey, and exited the room.

Now that the hologram was gone, he could see Leia clearly. She looked like his own mother (obviously), minus the Jedi robes. She was dressed in a Resistance uniform, the same kind everyone wore inside the base. But she was older, and seemed a bit sad. She lacked what his father would call the 'happy, married wife and mother' smile. Well, Ben didn't blame her. He would have been equally upset and depressed, if his son turned out to be a major disappointment and murdered his love to fulfil his, er, so-called destiny. However, her eyes lit up when she saw him.

' General,' Rey said awkwardly. ' I've brought Ben.' Ben felt slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't that used to Rey treating Leia like an outsider of some sort. It was not that his little sister didn't treat his mother with respect back at home, but she would usually run to his mother and kiss her on the cheek.

Well, he had to get used to it.

Their relationship was supposed to be a _big_ secret. Right, big secret.

' Thank you, Rey,' Leia nodded to her. ' You may go now.'

Rey flashed Ben a shrug, and left the room. At once, Ben felt as terrified as he was the day he stood in front of Snoke.

' So,' Leia said. ' You are Ben Solo?'

' Yes,' Ben resisted the urge to add 'mom' at the end of his answer.

' From that second Anakin's time? Not that ghost.'

' Er, yes.'

Leia frowned at Luke, ' But... How can this be?'

' The Son's work,' Luke said. ' He's perfectly capable of doing this. Remember the time when he sent Anakin and little Caleb to here?'

' Yes, I remember that little, energetic Padawan boy,' Leia answered. ' But... Why? What's his motive?'

' I am 99.9% sure he's just bored,' Luke guessed. ' No harm meant. Anyways, his sister would be after him now.'

Leia sighed, ' Fine. Now... Come closer. Let me see you.' Her voice was kind, so Ben relaxed. She turned to Luke, and said wistfully, ' He might be Ben Solo in Kylo Ren's body, but he's not my real son. We can't keep him here forever. We have to send him back eventually to his real family. But my real son is still Kylo Ren, stuck in Ben Solo's body. He may never be redeemed.'

' Maybe not,' Luke said gently. ' We still have hope, Leia. Kylo is living with Jedi, isn't he? Maybe... He'll see the truth in the Dark Side and... He will come back to us.'

' Yeah,' Ben nodded optimistically. ' Grandfather will squash all the dark side out of him.'

' I hope so,' Leia replied. ' Now, Ben, tell me more about yourself. I'd love to have a chat with my "other" son.

Ben found himself spilling everything to Leia. He told her all about his life, friends and family. It was almost like talking to his own mother. Secretly, he hoped Han Solo was here with him. He wished he could see him. Then, he realised that he missed his family terribly.

He missed his father and Chewie, who had been smuggling for a long time already. They should be home soon. And he wouldn't be there to welcome them (*cough* Kylo Ren will *cough*)

He missed his mother and uncle. He wondered how in the name of the Force they would deal with Kylo.

He missed his grandfather. Yep. He should be home already, from that _secret_ mission. Ah, and also his grandmother.

He missed Rey. He hoped he could go back to his timeline before she went off to get her first lightsaber crystal. He wanted to be there to witness it.

He missed Ahsoka (he hoped she didn't have a hard time trying to tolerate his grandfather's antics), Caleb, Ezra and the others. Technically, they weren't related, but they were like family to him. Ahsoka could be his aunt. Hmm... Caleb could be his uncle and Ezra could be his cousin.

' It's good to hear about Anakin,' Leia smiled. ' We haven't heard from him in a long, long time. Oh well, it's almost time for dinner. You can join Rey and the others at the mess hall for dinner. We can talk later. See you!'

* * *

It turned out that they were really going to have steak for dinner.

Ben tried to ignore the weird looks from the people, and got himself his tray of food from the cooks. Rey, Poe and Finn were sitting at a table, so Ben carried his tray over to them.

Ben looked at the contents on the tray. The steak, a loaf of bread, a glass of water, and a small cup of creamy, green liquid. He tilted the cup curiously, and Poe told him, ' That's the usual vegetable soup. It's good.'

He was about to dig into his dinner, when he looked up to find Finn and Rey, er, observing their dinner. He watched as Finn raised the plate to his nose and gave the meat a tentative sniff. ' It smells like herbs,' He asked Poe. ' Is it supposed to be like that?' Poe rolled his eyes exasperatedly.

Rey cut a bit of her steak, and started chewing. She brightened, ' It tastes buttery and juicy! It's delicious!'

Finn shovelled a sizeable chunk of steak into his mouth, ' Mmhmmmm! Mmm!'

They kept complimenting the food, and finally, Poe handed his plate of steak over to them, ' Fine. You can finish mine as well.'

Rey dropped her fork, ' Wait what? You're giving your steak to us?'

' Yeah,' Poe said wearily. ' We have meat for dinner all the time. But if you two like it so much, you can finish mine.'

' You don't know what you are missing, bro,' Finn said airily, taking Poe's plate.

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

The three boys entered the hangar.

Immediately, a silver and blue droid came up to greet Kylo with a loud whistle. R2-D2. His mother's droid. He remembered him all too well.

' _Hey, Ben guy, are we going to fly?'_ He asked cheerfully in Binary.

' Yeah. But these two don't have their fighters. Do you know if there are any, er, spare fighters around here?' Kylo asked.

' _Probably,'_ R2's dome whirled around. ' _Oh, I saw Ahsoka repairing her fighter just now. She probably knows. Come with me.'_

' Cool, I like Master Tano,' Finn commented lightly, and followed R2.

Sure enough, Ahsoka was sitting underneath her dark red coloured fighter, taking a bolt from a red and green astromech. ' Oh, hey,' She slid out from under the thing when she spotted them. ' What can I do for you?' R2 trilled to her.

' You need fighters?' Ahsoka stood up. ' You can use mine. I've finished fixing it. You can also use Anakin's. He won't be using it in a while. R7 can go with my fighter. And... R2-KT here can go with Anakin's fighter. Artooie, you will be with Ben, right?' R2 answered with a happy whistle.

' Cool, thanks, Master Tano! I'll take yours, if you don't mind,' Poe climbed on Ahsoka's fighter. ' Ben, get to your own one. And Finn, you can go on Master Skywalker's fighter.'

' WHAT?' Finn spluttered. ' Master Skywalker's fighter... I can't! He'll have my head if I scratch or do anything to it!'

' He won't,' Ahsoka waved off. ' And I know you won't scratch it. I trust your flying skills, Finn, buddy.'

' Yeah!' Poe put on the headset excitedly. ' Besides, you are flying the Chosen One's star fighter! What an honour! Those annoying, pompous kids in our class will be green with envy when they know about it.'

Finn said indignantly, ' YEAH?! That's if I don't destroy the Chosen One's fighter in the middle of flying! And well, if it is that big of an honour, why don't you use Master Skywalker's fighter and give me Master Tano's instead? Hoho, I bet you are scared of scratching it, so you are giving it to me!'

' Of course not, buddy,' Poe examined the switches with anticipation. ' I trust you. And secondly, I have flown one of those Clone Wars era Eta-series fighters before with my mom. But I have never flown a Clone Wars Delta fighter. This is cool!' He turned to Ahsoka. ' No offence to this incredible ship here, but this type of fighter is quite old, and the Clone Wars has ended decades ago! Why do the Jedi keep using Clone Wars fighters? I mean, look around here.' The hangar was full of old war fighters. And some Jedi didn't even bother to repaint their battered fighters.

' Well,' Ahsoka smiled thoughtfully. ' Let's say we all have sentimental ties to our fighters.' She patted her ship lightly, as if she was comforting a small child, ' This ship and I have been through a lot together. Can't just throw it away. Besides, it's not as old as you think. I have made some adjustments to its functions, changed some of its parts and it should work just like any new fighter you see out there.'

' I see, I see, ah!' Poe pressed a switch, and the transparent canopy closed. His voice was muffled through it, ' Okay, guys. What are you waiting for? Get into your fighters! Quick!' Finn reluctantly climbed into the bright yellow fighter, that was next to Ahsoka's.

R2 bumped at Kylo's knee. ' Fine, little guy,' Kylo groaned, and followed the droid to well, his own fighter. To his surprise, it was green. The exact shade of his lightsaber.

' Have fun!' Ahsoka called to them cheerfully.

R2 used his rocket boosters, and lowered himself into the astromech socket on the side. Once the canopy was closed, Kylo pulled on his headset. Right. As Poe said, the functions should be similar to a TIE fighter (he had flown in a TIE fighter for a couple times. Once, Hux was his gunner. He wasn't amused with Kylo's fancy flying).

Finn's voice crackled over the intercom, ' Okay... Stay calm... Stay calm...'

' I am calm,' Kylo answered, puzzled.

' I'm talking to myself,' Finn said shakily. ' I can't destroy this thing... I can't...'

' Oh, please stop,' Poe said. ' Now... So... Who takes off first? Do you take off first? I take off first?' Finn groaned loudly.

' Poe, stop that. This joke is old,' Finn didn't sound amused.

' What?' Kylo said, confused.

' This "who does that? Do you do that? I do that?" thing. He does that all the time. Like, " Who takes the first slice of cake? Do you take it first? I take it first?" And that one time he sassed Tarkin in politics class. "Who talks first? Do you talk first? I talk first?" You got punished, buddy, and it's not funny,' Finn sighed.

' Tarkin?' Kylo repeated. That name sounded familiar. Ah, Tarkin. That Imperial Grand Moff Tarkin. The Tarkin who ordered the destruction of Alderaan.

' Yeah! That slimy Tarkin, I don't like him,' Poe said. ' Enough talk about Tarkin. Let's get out of here.'

Kylo pressed the switch, and the engines roared. With another flick of a switch, he soared out of the hangar, along with Poe and Finn.

 **Aha! Tarkin makes his debut! Not exactly a proper debut, but well, he gets mentioned! XD And some Force Awakens references.**

 **So, everyone is playing Pokemon Go these days. Our school was somehow made a pokestop. But no, I didn't download this game. The reason is... You'll find out why in this 'me and Star Wars' ft. Pokemon Go! ft. HTTYD ft. Sherlock ft. Harry Potter**

 **Classmate: Check out this awesome new app! Pokemon Go!**

 **Me: Yeah. I know. Heard about it.**

 **Classmate: I'm off to catch some Pokemon today! You should download this game too, you know. The whole class is playing it. Join us!**

 **Me: Ummm... *mind wanders off to the two new Star Wars books on my table, plans to buy the Ahsoka book, the Harry Potter and Cursed Child book, the Rebels trailer playing on my I-Pad, the new Sherlock trailer, and tons of HTTYD stuff on tumblr* I better not. I'm addicted to too many things already.**

 **Classmate: But-**

 **Me: Well, if I am addicted to Pokemon Go AND Star Wars AND HTTYD AND Sherlock AND Harry Potter, then...**

 **There you have it... AND... MY COPY OF HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD ARRIVED YESTERDAY WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :DDDDDDDDDDD IT WAS SO GOOD, but I am in PAIN! Because none of my Harry Potter fandom classmates have read the book yet! So I couldn't talk to anyone about it! :((((((**


	9. Chapter 9

(Original Timeline)

A Jedi-only meeting was held in Luke's quarters to discuss Ben's problem. Kanan, Ezra, Luke, Ghost-Anakin, Rey and even the ghostly Obi-wan were present, and they sat in a ring, with Luke leading the discussion.

' So, we are here today to discuss how to send Ben back to his own timeline,' Luke said. ' And well, get our very own Kylo back.'

' Your beloved grandson,' Obi-wan told Ghost-Anakin smugly.

' Shut up, Old Man,' Ghost-Anakin crossed his arms. ' I like this grandson better. That Alive-me is very lucky. Mesa jealous.'

' Er, gee, thanks,' Ben muttered, pretending not to be startled by the sudden Jar Jar Binks imitation.

Kanan said, ' Let's analyse the background of the situation, and then figure out what to do.'

' Great idea,' Ezra said. ' First, we know that the Son is behind this.'

' Some really Sith-y or Dark Side magic must have been involved,' Rey commented.

' What do you reckon, Anakin? Did old Sidious tell you anything about it? Or anything from his Master, the Wise dude?' Kanan asked.

' No,' Ghost-Anakin said gloomily. ' That prune face is a liar. Sure my beloved wife died, but he never taught me any of his keep-people-from-dying magic powers. He could have taught me how to save my pet fish, you know!'

' You got a pet fish?' Luke's eyes widened, imagining Darth Vader feeding a pet fish. ' Okay. Let's forget about it. Right, we can't get anything from Palps. What about the Daughter? Have any of you been receiving, er, visions from the Daughter? Ben? Ezra?' He looked pointedly at the two, but both of them shook their heads.

' AND no one has seen the Daughter. What can we do?' Ghost-Anakin resisted the urge to bash his head against Obi-wan's shoulder.

' What about the Sith holocron you've got, boy?' Obi-wan asked.

Kanan and Ezra seemed to look a bit uncomfortable. ' Um, I can't open it now,' Ezra said, not wanting to talk about the Sith holocron. ' Only a Sith can open it. But... You said... We need knowledge about the Sith?'

' Yeah,' Ghost-Anakin said tiredly. ' We need knowledge about them to get a good grasp on what kind of Dark side magic was used on Ben.'

' I have an idea, but it's really crazy,' Ezra said. ' I'm thinking of... A planet. A planet full of knowledge of the Sith. Well, we've been there before with the same objective.'

Kanan spluttered, ' You mean... Malachor?'

Everyone except Rey and Ben gasped. Rey simply shrugged at Ben. ' Malachor,' Ben remembered the name from his studies. ' That Sith planet. Why though?'

' Our friend is living on that planet,' Ezra smiled. ' She can help us.'

Ben raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone even _live_ on that dark, evil planet?

' You mean Snips?' Ghost-Anakin said, a bit sadly. ' Oh, man. I don't know. She might be dead-'

' Father!' Luke shot his father a scandalised look. ' Ahsoka can't possibly be dead!'

 _What,_ Ben thought. And he realised with a funny little jolt that he had forgotten that he hadn't even seen Master Ahsoka or wondered where she went in this timeline.

' Wait a sec, who is Ahsoka?' Rey frowned.

' A really good friend of ours, and a brilliant Jedi. She was Anakin's Padawan,' Obi-wan said, and Ghost-Anakin huffed. ' She has been missing for so many years. She never called and we couldn't sense her. So we, well, assumed the worst.'

' She's not missing!' Luke exclaimed frustratedly. ' I told you, she was on a mission to Malachor! With a functional _ship._ Mind you. She can escape if she wants to. And she can't be dead.'

' How would I know?' Ghost-Anakin threw up his hands as a sign of defeat. ' I haven't seen her for _years_ , son! Nothing! Absolutely nothing in our Force bond! It is almost like she's dead! Maybe she's frozen in carbonite-'

' There's no carbonite on Malachor,' Ezra sighed. ' But the time there does work strangely.'

' I thought you could go anywhere,' Kanan said. ' I mean, you guys are Force-Ghosts. You can appear anywhere. Why don't you just, er, pop up on Malachor and give her a surprise visit? That could save us a lot of trouble.'

' If only I can,' Ghost-Anakin said darkly. ' Sure, we can go to many places. But we can't set foot on Malachor. The planet is completely filled with Dark energy. Us Light-Side ghosts can't go through its shield, or communicate with anyone inside it. And the Sith spirits in there are absolutely mean and unfriendly. One time I got too near the planet, and those spirits started screaming "Darth Traitor" at me.'

' Wow,' Rey bit her lip. ' But... If this Ahsoka person is exposed to all these spirits and Dark energy, will she turn to the Dark Side or go crazy?'

' No, the power of the Daughter protects her,' Luke answered. ' It's almost impossible for Ahsoka to succumb to the Dark. Anyways, Ahsoka might have an answer to what we are seeking for. The Sith Temple is filled with secrets and I think Ahsoka must have learnt them all in these years.'

' Wait wait wait! Why is Master Ahsoka even on that strange Sith planet in the first place?' Ben said, confused.

Ezra sighed, ' To learn more about the Sith.'

' Or... The reason this big baby here Turned,' Obi-wan added helpfully ('Hey!' Ghost-Anakin yelled indignantly).

' So, we have a plan now. We need to find Ahsoka. And I think, it's best for Ben to find her, by himself,' Luke said.

Kanan said, ' Wait. By himself? I think he should need some help.'

' Yeah, I agree,' Ezra nodded. ' The Sith Temple could be dangerous, you know, even if it had collapsed.'

Luke shrugged, ' Fine. Well, Rey can go with him.'

' What, me?' Rey gasped. ' But my training is not finished.'

' You are fine,' Luke said, and pulled out Anakin's lightsaber from his robe. ' You are strong with the Force, Rey. The Force can guide you. But I think you will need a lightsaber. What about using Father's lightsaber?'

' Thanks, Master, but I'm thinking of building a new one.'

' WHAT?' Ghost-Anakin yelled, and everyone jumped. ' What's wrong with my lightsaber? It's beautiful!'

' It's not that I don't like your lightsaber, er, Mr. Skywalker,' Rey gulped, obviously terrified. ' Yes, it's beautiful. But you are its rightful owner, and I can't keep using yours. I want my own lightsaber.'

' Fine, extra trip to Ilum then,' Luke said, nodding with understanding. ' I agree.'

' Actually, Uncle, I'd like to build another lightsaber too,' Ben confessed quietly, holding up the cross-guarded lightsaber (a chill went down Rey's spine, she remembered this lightsaber too well). ' I don't like this lightsaber. I mean, it's a _Sith_ lightsaber. I can't bring myself to use that.'

Luke offered him Anakin's lightsaber.

Ben stared at it. This lightsaber belonged to his grandfather, whom he respected a lot. Surely he couldn't use his grandfather's lightsaber! ' Um, I had better not,' Ben said. ' It's Grandfather's lightsaber. I can't use it... Maybe I can go with Rey to Ilum and pick up a new lightsaber crystal?'

' Fine,' Luke said. He stowed away the lightsaber. ' It's actually better, this way. Ben can accompany Rey. Let's prep them for Ilum, shall we?'

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Kylo hated to admit it, but he had fun flying around with Poe and Finn.

They had to fly in space, just somewhere above Coruscant, because they couldn't possibly try out their flying tricks without the Coruscant guards swooping down on them for disrupting traffic.

They performed daring moves, spinning and chasing each other. Kylo almost felt peaceful. There was no Hux at the back to yell at him this time. For once, he could enjoy flying (his favourite hobby besides destroying equipment) in the starry sky, with only occasional beeps from R2. It was almost like he was free.

After two hours of free flying, they dropped back down into the hangar.

' Whoooo! It was great!' Poe threw open the canopy. ' Finn, I told you that you could manage Master Skywalker's fighter.'

' It was great,' Finn still looked a bit nervous. ' But I'm NOT flying in his fighter again. Right, we should get back to the training academy to get ready. Shouldn't you be getting ready too, Benny?'

' What?' Kylo asked. ' Get ready for what?'

' The End of Clone Wars celebration day! Or more like the day Palpatine died celebration. ' Finn exclaimed. ' You forgot? It's a huge and important celebration, and... I thought you of all people should know! It's usually held in the Senate building, but it will be held in the Jedi Temple training grounds in honour of the Jedi this year. I heard they've got good food, friendly sparring matches and fireworks-'

' How would I know?' Kylo scowled. ' My Uncle didn't even bother to tell me.'

' Well,' Poe said awkwardly. ' Then you should get ready anyways. Oh, your mom's coming.'

Leia was running towards the boys, out of breath.' Oh, hello, Poe and Finn,' She greeted them, and turned to Kylo. ' There you are. I've been looking for you. You need to get ready for the celebration! Come here, you!' She grabbed Kylo by his arm painfully (seriously, she had a strong grip), ' I guess I'll see both of you later at the celebration.'

' Sure, bye, Master Skywalker!' Poe beamed.

Kylo was brought to Leia's quarters. Rey was there too, sitting on a chair. Her hair was washed and combed. ' There,' Leia tossed a fresh new set of traditional Jedi robes to Kylo. ' Change.'

He hid his scowl, went to the refresher, and changed into the robes. He looked into the mirror. It was a complete set. Usually, he only wore his tunic over training pants, but now, he was wearing the full, traditional version of Jedi robes, including the obi, tabard, belt, and that big brown cloak. He got out, wobbling slightly from the strange weight of the long cloak. Leia had finished tying up Rey's hair. Her hair was in her signature three bun style, but her stray hairs were tied back as well.

' Great,' Leia grabbed a comb, and seized Kylo. ' Your hair is messy.'

' No it's not,' Kylo tried not to swat away her hand. ' I would look weird with, er, a tidy hairstyle.'

' Fine, have it your way,' Leia sighed. ' You two are ready. We'll be assembling in the training ground for tonight's celebration in half an hour. Your Jedi Master in charge will be briefing you on what is to happen. Ben, Master Caleb will be responsible for Padawans, he's at the training dojo. Rey, Master Petro will be responsible for initiates in your group, he's at the mess hall.'

' Aw,' Rey said. ' But I want to sit with you, mom.'

' Sorry, honey,' Leia said (Kylo gagged). ' But I need to sit with the other Jedi Masters. It's Master Obi-wan's orders, even if he's not here. But we'll see each other at the party. You two should run along now.'

Kylo and Rey went on separate paths. He ran all the way to the training dojo, and Caleb was there already, with a dozen of Padawans sitting around him. Eek, other kids. Kylo hoped he didn't have to talk to them. But the Force probably didn't agree with him, because once he sat down, a female Padawan smiled at him, ' Hey there Benny Benny. How are you doing?'

' Er, fine, thank you,' Kylo grimaced.

' We should get together sometime and spar!' The girl was oblivious to his disgust. ' Maybe this time I can win.'

' You are never giving up, aren't you, Ahna?' A boy sitting next to her laughed. ' Last time Benny beat you hollow!'

' Oh yeah?' The girl, Ahna glared daggers at him. ' I've been practicing hard with mom. What about you? Slacking off with dad?'

' Ahna! Norman!' Caleb pulled them apart. ' Stop arguing! And settle down, Padawans. As you all know, it's the End of Clone Wars Celebration Day, and it will be held this evening on training grounds. The Chancellor, important Senators and even training cadets will be present, so I want all of you to be on your best behaviour.' He looked around impressively. ' We'll be sitting together in between Master Tii and Master Secura's group during the fireworks performance, the Chancellor's speech and then the friendly sparring matches. Okay?' The Padawans nodded obediently.

' Good, then we can go now, and be seated,' Caleb stood up, gesturing for the Padawans to follow him. They walked all the way to the training grounds. The training grounds was almost unrecognisable. Thousands of chairs were placed around a giant podium, that would serve as the ground for friendly sparring matches and for the Chancellor's speech.

Several groups were there already, muttering amongst themselves excitedly in anticipation of the celebration. Caleb led them to a bunch of chairs, ' We'll be sitting here.' Kylo sat next to him, because he'd rather talk to Caleb instead of the other Padawans.

' How does the friendly match work?' He asked Caleb curiously.

' It's just like any normal sparring session, except it's voluntary and just for demonstration and for fun,' Caleb shrugged. ' I signed up. I'll be sparring against my former Padawan.'

' Cool, who else signed up?'

' Let me see...' Caleb pulled out a sheet of paper from his robes. ' First up, it's Master Secura against Master Fisto. Secondly... It's Master Tiplar against Master Tiplee. Interesting. Then, it's me against Ezra, bla bla bla. Oooooh, your mom against your uncle. _Incredible_. That'd be fun to watch. And... Ahsoka against Anakin. That's probably the best.'

Kylo was beaming in excitement. It was his dream to see his grandfather fight. Maybe he could also learn something from Ahsoka. But... ' It's highly odd that Ahsoka would volunteer for it,' Kylo pointed out.

' Actually it wasn't Ahsoka's idea. Originally, your grandfather wanted to spar with Obi-wan, but since Obi-wan's not here, Anakin put her up to it,' Caleb admitted. ' Ah, look, the Senators are arriving. I can see your grandmother! She's with Chancellor Mothma.' Kylo whipped his head to look. Sure enough, (he recognised Mon Mothma) next to the Chancellor, was his grandmother. She was a breathtakingly beautiful woman, and Kylo could see that Leia took after her looks.

' Hey,' Someone plopped onto the empty seat next to Kylo. It was Ezra.

' What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be sitting with the little younglings?' Kanan asked his former Padawan.

' Yeah, but then Ganodi took my place,' Ezra shrugged. ' And here I am. What's up? The fireworks performance should be starting any moment-' On the cue, Mon Mothma stepped up to the stage and announced, ' Welcome, to the End of Clone Wars celebration. Our celebration will begin with a fireworks performance. Please enjoy.'

Immediately, the fireworks shot into the sky with a loud bang, like little starships. The sky was lit up with multicoloured fire and iridescent stars. Long coloured strips were displayed across the sky as representations of lightsabers.

Kylo was enjoying the music and the show immensely. Heck, the First Order would never hold a fireworks performance. Last time, Mitaka tried to convince Hux to hold a mini fireworks show, but the proposal was vetoed within a second.

But in the middle of all the cheerful music and merry laughters, a loud sob caught his attention. He warily looked at Caleb, and realised the Jedi Master was, well, crying.

' What... Master Caleb, what are you doing?' Kylo yelped.

' Oh, Ben,' Caleb wailed dramatically. ' Did you see it? It's so _beautiful._ All the colours... It's like a...' He paused to find the suitable word for it.

' Rainbow?' Kylo suggested.

' Yeah! Rainbow!'

' Oh man,' Ezra peered at Caleb. ' Master, what are you doing?' He told Kylo, ' Sorry, Ben, my former Master is just so crazy!'

' END OF THE CLONE WARS DAY! WHOOOO!' Caleb yelled, and many Padawans turned to stare at him. ' _I love it!_ All hail our-'

' Okay, okay,' Ezra groaned. ' That's a bit embarrassing. Everyone is looking at you, Master.'

Kylo sighed to himself. This was going to be a very long night.

 **Yaay. :D**


	10. Chapter 10

(Original Timeline)

' So, before you two go off to get your lightsaber crystals,' Luke laid down a large box in front of him. ' I will show you the process of building a lightsaber. Wait, Ben, you do know how to build a lightsaber right?'

' Yeah,' Ben said. ' But it doesn't hurt to watch.'

' Okay. Er... So let's begin with a crystal. I'm going to take the crystal from this,' He raised Ghost-Anakin's old lightsaber for Rey and Ben to see. ' As a demonstration for-'

' _Ohh_ , son,' Ghost-Anakin wailed dramatically (Ben and Rey giggled). ' You are sacrificing my lightsaber? How could you do this to your poor, old father?' He was perched on top of a small, round table. Obi-wan and Yoda were teaching him how to sit on or touch solid objects.

' Relax, dad,' Luke rolled his eyes. ' I know what I am doing and I won't destroy your lightsaber. I just need to take it apart and get its crystal. Now... As I was saying before I was interrupted by my beloved father, I will be taking the lightsaber apart.' He used the Force and took the lightsaber apart with ease. A single, blue lightsaber crystal that glowed, fluttered gently onto his palm.

' Now, this is a perfect lightsaber crystal,' Luke explained, holding it up. ' It will generate a stable plasma blade.'

Stable? Ben looked at the cross-guard lightsaber on his belt. ' This blade doesn't have a stable blade,' He told Luke. He ignited it, and Rey immediately shivered at the sight of it.

Luke said thoughtfully, ' Would you mind taking it apart? But be careful, this thing could be dangerous.' Ben took it apart, and held up the red crystal. It was cracked.

' Hmm,' Luke examined it. ' No wonder. This thing looks pretty battered!' Ghost-Anakin stood up, stared at the crystal and gasped, ' HEY! That crystal is mine!'

' WHAT? Your lightsaber's blue and the crystal is here with me, so-' Luke said and paused suddenly. ' Oh.' This crystal had belonged to Darth Vader. ' But... Didn't it fall down the reactor shaft when I, um, chopped off your hand? It should have been destroyed along with the Emperor!'

' How do I know?' Ghost-Anakin shuddered. ' Maybe... It fell out and landed on Endor... That would explain why it is cracked... I bet dozens of Ewoks stepped on it. So that would take years to find it! How the Sidious did he manage to find it? Oh, man, that Kylo Ren really does go to great lengths to get my stuff! First, he somehow acquired my burnt armour. Then, he talks to my helmet as if it had a mind of its own! N _ow,_ I just realised he has my poor lightsaber crystal. Seriously?! I feel stalked, man. The life of a handsome man really is difficult.' Rey pretended to gag.

The ghost of Obi-wan materialised next to Ghost-Anakin. ' I may or may not agree with your statement,' He said. ' But I do agree that your grandson is quite a dedicated fellow.'

' I am handsome,' Ghost-Anakin insisted.

' Gah,' Obi-wan turned to Luke. ' He may be redeemed, but all these years as Darth Vader has made him cranky, conceited and narcissistic. Oh, and by the way, I asked Master Yoda to try contacting Ahsoka on Malachor, but he didn't succeed. Those Sith Lord spirits popped up again and called him the "little green troll". He is offended.' Rey and Ben gasped.

' What did they call you?' Ghost-Anakin huffed.

' Well, the usual "Old-man Kenobi". Not much of a surprise,' Obi-wan shrugged.

' Oh? They took a page out of my book!' Ghost-Anakin sounded pleased. ' I, the handsome former Sith Lord, have influenced those spirits.'

Obi-wan eyed him irritatedly, and disappeared with a pop.

Luke coughed, ' Okay. Ben, you can put away the crystal. And anyways... I'll take this blue crystal here. I apologise in advance, because I am not that good at lightsaber designing. Well, Ahsoka is good at making curved hilts and-'

' She's on Malachor,' Ghost-Anakin sobbed. ' Most likely dead-'

' Stop it, Father. She's not dead! And Ventress is also good at that-'

' Missing, missing, la la la.'

' And Lora, one of the Jedi Knights, was pretty good at designing lightsabers too, but, yeah, she died defending the younglings in the attack along with some others,' Luke said sadly. ' So do bear with me. I'll make something that is similar to my lightsaber...'

He sorted out the parts he needed, and placed it in front of him. He closed his eyes, and Rey watched in awe as the parts started spinning and twisting around in the air to form a hilt. With a light wave, the crystal levitated, and fluttered to the centre of the crystal energy chamber. He concentrated, and the entire thing started to merge together. Once the final piece clicked into place, he took the weapon and ignited it.

' Huh, it looks like Master Obi-wan's lightsaber, with that hilt design and the blue blade,' Ben commented.

' It sure does,' Luke agreed with a smile. ' So any questions, Rey?'

' Wow,' Rey breathed, still awestruck. ' I have to levitate all that stuff using the Force? This looks difficult.'

' It's not that difficult, really,' Luke said, taking the beautiful new lightsaber apart and returning the crystal to its original lightsaber. ' Didn't you take that lightsaber away from Kylo using the Force? Honestly, you just need to concentrate, and the rest of that is easy. Ben, why don't you fix it up?'

Ben fixed the lightsaber with ease, and felt the weight of it in his hand. He rarely had the chance to hold it, well, he did so once or twice. Once, when his grandfather had left his lightsaber in his quarters and he had to return it to him (Obi-wan yelled at him for losing his lightsaber again). The other time, he was sparring with Ahsoka, and she dared him to use Jar'kai. So his grandfather tossed him his lightsaber. Needless to say, he lost spectacularly to the famous Jar'kai expert.

' You know what,' Rey said, looking at the lightsaber. ' For a lightsaber that has gone through the Clone Wars, it looks awfully new.' Luke laughed.

' Uhhhh, because technically, it _is_ new,' Ghost-Anakin confessed with a rather painful smile. ' I built this thing right before we raced back to Coruscant to rescue Palps, because I dropped it in a mission.' Ben swore he heard Obi-wan's voice echo in the room ('Shame on you!').

' Shut up, Old Man!' Ghost-Anakin yelled. ' It didn't exactly go through the war, but I did, uh, take it with me in the Jedi Purge.' Rey looked as if she was about to be sick. The ghost might as well say that he had murdered a bunch of Jedi younglings with this lightsaber.

' Then, I fought Obi-wan with it, bla bla bla, I dropped it, Obi-wan took it, and I don't know what he did with it. Maybe he let it gather dust and rot under his bed or something-'

' No, Father!' Luke exclaimed. ' He stored it in a box... And it was in a good condition when he gave it to me, okay? I didn't use it much before the Battle of Hoth... And then it was lost along with my hand on Bespin!' Ghost-Anakin squirmed around guiltily. ' And I have no idea how in the Force it ended up in Maz's box.'

' Well, only Maz knows,' Ghost-Anakin said. ' Where is she?'

' I don't know. But she might still be on Takodana,' Rey frowned. She had last seen Maz at her castle, but she was abducted by Kylo right after she left her place.

Luke said, ' This mystery will be solved eventually, but not now, because we have other things to do. If you two are ready, I think you can go.'

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Fortunately, Caleb immediately stopped crying when the remaining traces of fireworks had vanished from the sky, because Kylo was starting to have a splitting headache from all the exaggerated sobs.

Everyone quieted down, and waited as Chancellor Mothma slowly ascended the steps, onto the giant podium. She started to speak (her voice was magnified), telling the younger ones about the history of the Republic, the Jedi, the war and other stuff that Kylo found boring, no offence to the Supreme Chancellor herself. Hux would have been a better speaker. At least the way he spoke was funny. He had the technicians broadcast Hux's voice on his ship when they blew up the Hosnian system, and he was actually sniggering at how ridiculous his speech actually sounded behind his mask.

He was starting to doze off (Caleb was fast asleep. Seriously, you would expect the _Head of the Council_ to be attentive in situations like that) when she reminded them of his grandfather's mighty deeds. Well, that was a highlight.

' Thank you,' She smiled, and everyone applauded. ' This is the end of my speech... And now... We are having our sparring matches!' The Jedi Padawans behind Kylo screamed in excitement.

The thunderous noise woke Caleb, and he suddenly sat up straight, staring around groggily. The Jedi kids squealed happily, abandoned their seats despite the Jedi Masters yelling hoarsely after them and jostled to the front to get the best spot to watch the match. Kylo was pushed out as well into the crowd. He squished past a bunch of Jedi Padawans, and found himself standing next to Ahsoka and his grandfather.

' Hello, Ben,' She said. She didn't look happy. Kylo looked at her closely, and realised with a jolt that she was wearing light coloured Jedi robes as well. Her usual preferred top, leggings and boots were gone.

' Wow, Ahsoka, you are...' He blurted out.

' Yes,' She sounded disgruntled. ' I had to wear these.'

His grandfather smirked, ' Snips _totally_ hates traditional Jedi wear.'

' Yeah!' She said. ' It's uncomfortable! Imagine wearing that on Tatooine! I have absolutely no idea how most of the Jedi managed to fight through the war in these.'

' Well,' Anakin shrugged. ' The clone armour was worse.'

Master Fisto and Master Secura were already on the podium. They bowed to each other as a sign of respect before the match.

They fought well, Kylo thought, but they were probably not as impressive as his grandfather. Same case for the twin sisters.

When Caleb and Ezra mounted the steps and switching their lightsabers to training mode, Kylo was starting to get interested. He wanted to know how well the two fought, especially Caleb.

They bowed to each other, and ignited their lightsabers. Then they started fighting. To Kylo's surprise, both of them fought aggressively. He had thought that both of them were more laid-back Jedi, but he was very wrong. They were striking at each other with enthusiasm and trying to swipe at each other's legs. Once, Caleb caught Ezra off-guard and nearly pushed him off the podium using the Force. But Ezra immediately dodged Caleb's blow and began shooting at Caleb... The Jedi cheered.

Wait, what? Shoot? Ah. His lightsaber was a lightsaber-blaster hybrid. Kylo was slightly surprised by the choice of design, but well, he too had a weird lightsaber.

' Hey, that's cheating!' Caleb shouted, deflecting the bolts.

' No it isn't! No rules, remember?' Ezra laughed, switching back to lightsaber mode. Suddenly, he slid down to hit Caleb's legs, but Caleb jumped up just in time to avoid it. Ezra leapt above Caleb, and held his blade at his former Master's neck. ' Gotcha!'

' And I got you!' Caleb said cheerfully. Ezra looked down in shock to find Caleb's lightsaber directed at his stomach.

' That's a tie!' Master Tii shouted out. ' Really close one, I must say.'

The Jedi duo extinguished their lightsabers. Caleb gave his former Padawan a friendly pat, and they walked down.

' Ohhhhhhhh,' Anakin breathed excitedly. ' It's Luke against Leia!' Kylo blinked. He still couldn't get used to the fact that the version of Leia here was a fully fledged Jedi Master instead of a Senator. He couldn't bring himself to imagine his very elegant mother to hold a Jedi's weapon.

Kylo asked curiously, ' Grandfather, who do you think will win this duel?' Ahsoka coughed.

' Well... That's a really difficult question,' Anakin scratched his chin thoughtfully. ' They are both my children... I can't show favouritism, can I? But since Luke was my Padawan, I'll have to say Luke. I'm an insanely good teacher.'

Ahsoka snorted, ' _Oh yeah?_ I shall be supporting Leia, you know, my former Padawan.'

' Does this mean war, Snips?' Anakin narrowed his eyes.

' Yeah,' Ahsoka imitated his look.

' Great!' Anakin said triumphantly. ' Let's bet, shall we? 10 credits.'

' Deal,' Ahsoka said.

Kylo groaned.

 **Hmm. I don't know why but I have this sudden craving for cheesecake and apple pie. :P**

 **Yaaas! Star Wars Rebels Season 3 is coming up soon! XD Can't wait!**


	11. Chapter 11

**First up, I want to say... RIP Kenny Baker. :( You will be missed.**

(Original Timeline)

Poe serenely tapped down the coordinates for planet Ilum, and the ship shot into hyperspace.

Rey and Ben sat, strapped onto their seats. Rey was drumming her fingers nervously on her lap, nervous about her first Jedi quest. Luke warned them that it was going to be a perilous adventure, and even the usually dramatic Ghost-Anakin agreed that crystal hunting wouldn't be easy. That was why they commissioned Ezra to accompany them on the mission. Finn had wanted to go with them, but Luke said, ' The less people involved in this mission the better. Who knows if the First Order is going to ambush us? Can't afford to lose everyone.'

Ben wasn't that happy to be back on Ilum. Jedi only needed to visit Ilum once to get their very first crystal as a rite of passage or something. After that, they could choose to use crystals in the Temple or create their own crystal by meditation if they lost their lightsabers. He remembered the Gathering too well. The planet was frigid, and he was freezing from the cold, despite being wrapped in warm furs. He tripped immediately after getting his crystal, which was lying on a cliff, and splashed into an icy stream. Although he was the first to get out and meet up with Ahsoka, who was accompanying them as a chaperone again, he caught a cold when he got back to the Temple.

' What is Ilum like?' Rey squeaked.

' It's really cold,' Ben said.

' And really dangerous,' Ezra added.

Poe got up from his pilot chair, ' Yeah it is. Been to there once for fun. Without any winter gear. That was the worst decision. Ever. Master Skywalker gave these to us.' He popped open a holding compartment from above, took out four boxes and handed two of them to the pair.

Ben opened his box and pulled out a complete set of winter gear. A vest made from some kind of thick, woollen material, a large cloak with a furry hood and fingerless gloves.

Ezra promptly slipped the gloves on, so everyone followed suit. The cloak was oversized, and Ben wobbled about under the weight of it. But otherwise, it was warm and comfortable.

' Rey, have you thought of what kind of lightsaber you would like to build?' Ezra plopped back onto his passenger's chair.

' Dunno,' Rey shook her head.

' That's okay,' Ezra said. ' Not much of a worry. But you will need to start working on your design once you get your crystal. We won't be dropping out of hyperspace anytime soon, so uh, let's just meditate.' He adopted the meditation position and closed his eyes. Ben and Rey sighed, and copied his position.

Ben ran through the details of his lightsaber design in his head, imagining his original one spinning above him. Then, he wondered what colour would his crystal be. He hoped it would be green. He didn't mind blue, but it wasn't exactly his colour. Purple, nah. Too rare. White? Even rarer. He had no idea how Ahsoka managed to get her white crystals.

' Hey, we are out of hyperspace,' Poe announced. Indeed, they were approaching a giant, silvery planet.

' That's pretty quick,' Rey opened her eyes.

' No, it wasn't,' Poe let out a loud yawn. ' It has been, I don't know, an hour? Maybe you have been concentrating so much on your meditation that you haven't even noticed the time passing.' He stifled a yawn, and sleepily returned to flipping some switches on the control panel.

The ship descended into the atmosphere, through the thick grey clouds. It was impossible for Poe to land the ship, even with his flying talents, because his view was completely blocked by the crazy swirling vortex of snow. In the end, Ezra had to take his place, and relied on the Force to land it.

They disembarked the ship, and the weather was so, so bad. The biting wind was whipping painfully in Ben's face, and Rey's hood kept falling back. ' Awful weather!' Poe yelled over the howling noises of the wind. ' I will be staying here, looking after the ship.' The door shut in Ezra's face.

' Well,' Ezra sneezed. ' We have to go. The caves should be this way. I can sense it. Follow me.' He plodded towards the north.

Ben stiffly raised his foot, and took a cautious, small step. Immediately, his foot sank deep into the snow. He groaned. He hated this so much.

Next to him, Rey was shivering. She wasn't used to the cold, as she had spent most of her life living on a hot and dry planet.

' I thought you aren't afraid of the cold, Rey,' Ezra looked back. ' Luke told me you fought and defeated Kylo Ren in a snowy forest on that dreadful Starkiller Base. In your desert gear too!'

' I _am_ afraid of the cold,' Her teeth were chattering. ' But I was too terrified to care, you know, the adrenaline and stuff. Finn was severely injured, and a crazy Darth Vader fanboy was threatening to kill me!' Ben chortled.

' Good news is,' Ezra said, pointing at a series of jagged mountains, not very far away from their position. ' That is the crystal cave we are looking for. Come on.' They trekked through the mounds of snow, careful not to slip, and stood in front of the mountains.

' We need to, er, open it, am I right?' Ben squinted at it.

' Yes,' Ezra raised his hand. ' Use the Force, everyone.'

Rey copied Kylo Ren's Force interrogation hand gesture. Ben simply concentrated. There was a mild tremor in the Force, and parts of the thing fell away to reveal a passageway.

They walked in, and they found themselves standing in the middle of a giant hall, surrounded by statues. Ben found them extremely creepy. He had voiced his opinion to Ahsoka. She had laughed.

The interior of the cave was not as cold as the outside, but still rather chilly. Ezra put his hood down, and shook the snow out of his hair, ' Sheesh, what an excellent place.'

' I don't see any crystals,' Rey said.

' Of course you don't,' Ezra chuckled. ' This is just the entrance! Hmmm... Let's see how this works. Okay, I need to spin this crystal thing to melt the ice. Okay. I am not good at this... Ahsoka was though...' He waved his hand lightly. Nothing happened. He cursed in Mando'a (must have picked up that language from Sabine).

' Er, I think you need to open that window over there before spinning the, um, giant crystal thing,' Ben pointed at the panel timidly.

' Eh? Right. I told you I am not good at this type of thing.' Ezra waved his hand again.

This time, a circular panel on the top slid open, and blinding light started to flood into the hall. It bounced onto the... Spinning crystal thing (as Ezra said), and shone onto the tall ice archway. The ice melted away rapidly, revealing yet another doorway. But another layer of frost was starting to form over the top. Ben hated this thing.

' Woah,' Rey glanced up. ' It's freezing all over again!'

' Get in now, time is running short,' Ezra said, pushing them in. ' And find your crystal as soon as possible.'

' What happens if it freezes up?' Rey said. ' Won't we be trapped inside?'

' Yeah,' Ezra said. ' For one rotation. You must hurry up. When the day ends, the entire thing will freeze up and you will be trapped. No one will be able to help you.'

Ben knew how the entire thing worked, but Ezra's ghost of a smile made him nervous all over again.

* * *

(Alternate Universe)

Luke and Leia adopted their beginning stances.

' Woah, what is that?' Anakin said, shocked.

' What is _what_?' Ahsoka said, annoyed.

Anakin demanded, ' Leia's stance. It definitely isn't a Form V or III stance. What is that?'

' What?' Ahsoka laughed. ' I thought you have seen your daughter duel. Though I must say, this is one of her rarer opening stances. And oh, you are right, it is not exactly a Form V stance. It is our secret hybrid stance, incorporating Form III and Form IV. But she'll be using Form IV or V for the rest of the duel, I promise you.'

What the heck? Form III and Form IV hybrid stance? Kylo stared blankly at Ahsoka. He had never heard of anything quite like that.

' What are you playing at?' Anakin hissed, but Ahsoka simply shrugged innocently and looked at the podium.

They ignited their lightsabers and the duel began.

Kylo was stunned. He honestly hadn't expected it, but Leia could fight viciously. He couldn't imagine his dear old mom back at home doing those gymnastic moves (backflips, jumps, cartwheels) Leia was currently doing, and with her lightsaber too.

Luke was holding up pretty nicely too, countering her aggressive strikes with well-placed blows. They were evenly matched, Kylo noted.

But at the end, Leia suddenly made a weird, unorthodox move (Kylo had no idea what kind of technique it was) and disarmed Luke. Luke fell backwards, and his lightsaber dropped into Leia's hand.

Leia smiled, offered her brother a hand and helped him up. He took it, gratefully, and patted her on the back, ' Good match.'

Back at the spectator's stand, Anakin was just staring, his jaw dropping.

' 10 credits,' Ahsoka said gleefully. ' Ahahahahaha!'

Anakin said hotly, ' What kind of a move was that-'

' Master Skywalker and Master Tano,' Luminara Unduli was standing on the stage, looking amused. ' If you are done with your daily bickering routine, I believe it is your turn to duel.' Everyone laughed heartily. It was common knowledge that the two Jedi Masters liked bickering with each other.

Both of them flushed, highly embarrassed at being told off in the presence of the Chancellor, and stepped up onto the podium. They bowed (Anakin rolled his eyes), and ignited their lightsabers. Kylo gasped quietly when he saw that Ahsoka's lightsabers were silvery white. He knew what colour her blades were, but he couldn't help marvelling at the white colour whenever she ignited her blades.

' I wish I had a white lightsaber,' A Padawan behind him said in admiration.

Ahsoka made the first move, rushed at Anakin and jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding his swipe. Kylo could see where Leia's complicated gymnastic moves came from. She Force-jumped on top of him and flipped over. Anakin regained his balance, and they started striking at each other. Their strikes were so fast that their blades were just bright blue and white smudges, and Kylo was almost certain if the blades were switched back to normal mode, they were going to cut each other's limbs off. He would never survive in a duel against either one of them.

Suddenly, Anakin pushed Ahsoka back using the Force, and she fell to the edge of the podium. The Jedi younglings standing near that area, held their breaths.

Anakin grinned, ' Looks like I win, my young-' He never got to finish his sentence, because Ahsoka was up in a millisecond, and moved so fast that she was just a blur in Kylo's eyes. She kicked Anakin over in the chest, and pointed the tip of her lightsaber at his throat.

' Looks like _you_ are beaten,' She smiled, extinguishing her blade, and helped her former Master up.

Kylo simply stood there, his jaw wide open. His grandfather was powerful, and never in his dreams would he imagine that his grandfather could be defeated. Darth Vader was supposed to be invincible, man! But Ahsoka was incredible too. He stared at Ahsoka with newfound respect and admiration. Not even Snoke could duel like that! If only he could fight like both of them and get all the power he wanted... He could rule the galaxy, and finish what Darth Vader started.

They made their way back to the spectator stand. Anakin crossed his arms grumpily, ' I lost a bet AND I lost a duel. Great day, isn't it?' Ahsoka smirked, and he glowered at her.

' Come on,' She grabbed Ben and Anakin's arms. ' We need to go to the mess hall for the celebration feast. Let's meet up with Luke, Leia and Rey, shall we?'

They made their way to the mess hall with much difficulty, surrounded and squashed by chattering mobs of Jedi and Senators, though they did manage to meet up with Luke amongst the crowd. When they finally squished into the mess hall, they spotted Leia and Rey at the ice-cream bar. Rey was adding so much chocolate sauce to her bowl that the actual scoop of ice-cream disappeared underneath.

' Excellent fight,' Leia told Anakin and Ahsoka.

' Good job too,' Anakin complimented. ' Though what was that you did at the back?'

Ahsoka's smile widened, and Leia said, ' Oh, what Master Tano and I would describe as _an element of surprise._ '

' Yeah this is their motto,' Luke nodded thoughtfully. ' An element of surprise at the end of every duel. I almost had a heart attack when she did that. People would think that I know what Leia's fighting style is because we are twins. But I actually don't.'

' Enough talk about the duel,' Anakin whined. ' I'm hungry. Let's go get some food.' Kylo's stomach growled. He didn't even notice he was that hungry. He grabbed a plate and started piling food onto it.

Caleb plodded towards them, holding a plate that was piled high with heaps and heaps of cookies, and a glowing data pad in his other hand. ' Rrbiiwan wribee tchimr ngrrmow,' He told them, his mouth bulging with cookies.

' Pardon me?' Anakin raised an eyebrow.

Caleb blushed, swallowed and said, ' Excuse me. I was saying... I just received notice that Master Kenobi will be coming back to Coruscant tomorrow morning.'

Oh, no. Obi-wan Kenobi? The former Master of his grandfather?

' That's wonderful!' Leia exclaimed. ' We haven't seen him in a long, long time.'

' Yeah! I miss Master Obi-wan!' Rey looked up from her bowl of ice cream and chocolate sauce mix.

' He's missing out all the fun,' Caleb said. ' The cookies are excellent. Have you tried the caramel crunch ones?'

Kylo was too worried to try out the said caramel crunch cookies. He knew Obi-wan Kenobi was a powerful Jedi, because his mother always spoke highly of him and would only refer to him as General Kenobi. She respected him so much that she had named him after the man. His father on the other hand... Well... He would always say 'Obi-wan Kenobi? Dunno. He's just a crazy old hermit guy who trained your uncle' whenever he asked about him. Of course Kylo didn't believe what he said. The man who trained Darth Vader couldn't be 'just a crazy old hermit guy'.

He had been trying hard not to blow his cover. And the last thing he needed would be Obi-wan Kenobi discovering his real identity.

 **Oh, you are right, Kylo. :P FYI, Ahsoka and Anakin's duel is similar to Ahsoka and Vader's duel.**

 **I had so much fun last time doing 'facts about me' and Star Wars, so I am going to do another one. The list will be shorter, but it is slightly longer or more detailed. So there we go, 3 facts about me, Star Wars style.**

 **1\. The first time I really came across the Star Wars fandom, was... Hm... I was just randomly surfing the local TV channel on a random Sunday afternoon and the Clone Wars Season 5 was airing on TV (kinda late, I know) I watched the episodes Missing in Action and Sabotage (I was actually so close to the end, and I hadn't even realised!), and I was really hooked at the end of the two episodes. So I began binge watching the Clone Wars from Season 1 till Season 6, together with the Star Wars movies. Yeah. Till now, I am kind of horrified that I was actually watching the pre Temple bombing episodes without knowing. Back then, I was like 'oh lol nanodroids? What is that supposed to be?' and 'wow why is this girl calling that guy her Master'. :( I know better now.**

 **2\. I draw pictures of BB-8s all over my notebooks. So yeah, flip open one of my notebooks or schedule books, and there is a pretty high chance for you to spot a BB-8 at the corner. You might even spot the Rebel Alliance symbol above that.**

 **3\. I think the saddest moments in Star Wars would be... Hmm... There are lots. Clones all over the galaxy executing Order 66 in ROTS, Ahsoka leaving, the Fives story arc (you DEFINITELY know what I am talking about), the duel on Mustafar, Vader in his new suit and the ending of Twilight of the Apprentice.**

 **That's all for now. :) Thanks for reading. And do leave a review! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

(Original Timeline)

The place was as gloomy as ever.

He took a deep breath and tried to look for the crystal that was supposed to belong to him. Ahsoka always said, ' Only you know which crystal belongs to you. It will call to you, you just need to look for it.' That was exactly what he was doing.

' Where is my crystal?' Rey muttered, and she breathed out puffs of smoke while she spoke.

Something caught Ben's attention from the corner of his eye. He spun quickly to look. There, on top of a mountain of ice, a glimmering, blue speck of light shone like a beacon. Could that be... His crystal? He squinted to get a clearer look at it, but a terrified scream tore his eyes away from the beckoning light.

Behind him, Rey had sank knee-deep into the snowy ground. ' Rey!' He shouted, and tried to grab her arms, but there was no use. She was pulled down rapidly, and disappeared under the ground. It was almost like the ground had swallowed her whole, without leaving a trace.

' Rey!' He screamed, clawing away at the snow, but it was solid rock underneath the layer of snow. How could that be?

He was worried sick. His little sister... He tried reaching out in the Force. He wasn't sure whether it would work...

' _Rey? Come on! Rey! '_

 _' Ben! Is that you?'_ Rey's voice answered at the end of the Force bond.

Ben heaved a sigh, relieved. Rey was okay. She was okay.

' _Where are you?'_ He tried not to sound too anxious. ' _You were magically swallowed up!'_

 _' I have no idea. I'm in this... Tunnel. I could see the end of it though, it's not very faraway.'_

 _' Maybe your crystal is near the end of the tunnel. We have to be quick, time is running short.'_

 _' Yeah..._ _What is this communication method though?'_

 _' A Force bond.'_

 _' Really? I thought a Force bond only exists between a Master and the Apprentice. But why...'_

Ben had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from saying anything. He wanted to say 'because you are my sister'. It was possible to form a Force bond between siblings. His uncle and mother had one. His Padawan friends Ahna and Norman had a Force bond too. He had tried forming a bond with his little sister back in the Temple, but it was a weak one, because Rey wasn't that experienced in using the Force. But they could send each other simple messages through it from time to time. For now, fortunately, the bond was only disabled. Yes, disabled, not broken.

' Broken bonds can be excruciatingly painful,' His grandfather once told him. ' I nearly broke Ahsoka and my bond, but your grandmother convinced me not to.'

He answered Rey, ' _Long story. I'll tell you later. We need to go and find our crystals.'_

 _' Okay.'_ There was a small pause. ' _May the Force be with you, Ben.'_

 _' With you, too,'_ Ben said, and he gently disconnected the temporary bond.

Okay. He had to focus. He didn't want to get trapped in this crystal cave for one rotation. The light was still there, right at the top of the series of steep stone steps. He started to climb the steps one at a time.

The steps were awfully steep and slippery, and Ben nearly tripped on some of the steps. He made it to the top after what seemed like half an hour... But the light was gone. He cursed in Mando'a under his breath (he must have picked that from Fives, or Caleb, who picked it up from Ezra, who picked it up from Sabine). It wasn't a crystal. There was only a large stone slab.

He was about to Force-jump back down, when a crisp, cool voice said, ' Hey, wait a moment.'

He whirled to find... A guy... Sitting on the stones.

He wanted to pull out his lightsaber, but then he realised he didn't have a lightsaber. The man stood up, his gleaming red eyes ever so unnerving.

' Who are you?' Ben said warily.

' Me?' To his surprise, the man laughed. ' I am the Son, of course. My beloved sister must have told you about me.'

' The Son...' Ben repeated, and his eyes widened. ' You!'

' Why, it's me!' The Son cackled. ' How are you doing? Having fun?'

Ben growled, ' Fun? Why did you send me here?'

' I'm bored,' The Son smiled, showing his blindingly white teeth. ' It is fun watching you too flapping about. I haven't had so much fun since that Jar Jar Binks of yours nearly destroyed the Naboo Senator's office.' Ben remembered the accident all too well. It was a rather... chaotic accident. Fortunately, his grandmother and her handmaidens weren't in her office at that time, so they weren't harmed.

' Switch us back, now!' Ben bellowed.

The Son's smile widened, ' And ruin my precious moments of entertainment? No! I'm getting bored again... I guess I'll be moving on to find your... Is that your sister?'

Ben shouted angrily, ' You leave my sister alone!'

' Bla bla bla, didn't hear you,' The Son said in a sing-song voice. ' Bye for now!' He disappeared in a flash of red lightning.

Oh dear. What would the Son do to Rey? Oh no! What if he told her... He was her brother? Luke and Leia would kill him if the Son did.

He paced around anxiously, when a glimmer of light caught his attention again. Hovering several inches above the stone slab, was a single, beautiful blue crystal.

* * *

There was nothing outside the tunnel, much to Rey's disappointment

It was just a large, rocky cavern, with absolutely nothing in it. She was about to turn back and go the other way, when a man _literally_ appeared in front of her. She blinked, and jumped back in surprise.

' Hello, hello, hello!' The man chirped. ' I am the Son, how are you doing?'

Rey recognised the name at once, and she said in fear, ' You! You... Are the one who stuck Ben in here!'

' Yes, yes, I'm glad you know my name!' He grinned.

' What do you want?' Rey snapped.

' You are strong in the Force,' The Son said. ' You will get a lot of power if you use the Dark Side of the Force.'

Rey narrowed her eyes, ' I will never go to the Dark Side, thank you.'

' You will get a lot of power,' The Son coaxed. ' You can overthrow this Snoke guy and rule the galaxy.'

' Ruling the galaxy isn't my cup of tea, so no thank you,' Rey said coldly. Oh, she wished she had brought her quarterstaff!

' Fine, have it your way,' The Son shrugged lightly. ' Oh, and by the way...' He snapped his fingers. ' I think this belongs to you.'

' What-' Two crystals fell into Rey's palm. She looked at them uncertainly, ' Are you giving these to me?'

' Nope. They are supposed to drop down when you enter this cavern, but I caught them for you, that's all. I'm feeling nice today,' The Son said, sounding bored. ' You should get going. The ice is freezing up.' He waved his hand, and one side of the cavern collapsed to reveal a set of stairs made from stone. ' Get up there, quick. The exit is on the left.'

The entire thing sounded too good to be true, but Rey pocketed her crystals and clambered up the stairs anyways. She kept climbing, until she reached the top. Yes! She was near the exit (half of it was frozen). She ran towards it, and nearly crashed into Ben, who was running towards the exit as well.

' Ow!' Ben said. ' Oh... Hey, Rey! Glad to see you safe. You got your crystals?'

' Yeah,' Rey nodded.

' Great, let's get out of here.' They ran out of the ice caves.

Ezra was sitting at the foot of a creepy looking statue. He stood up at once when he saw them. He grinned, ' Rey! Ben! You guys are fine!'

' We are. And I bumped into the Son just now,' Rey scowled.

' WHAT?' Ezra shouted.

' Me too,' Ben confessed.

Ezra bit his lip, ' What did he say?'

' Dunno, Dark Side stuff,' Rey said. ' Nothing else.'

' Alright,' Ezra didn't sound pleased. ' Let's get out of here before Poe freezes into a popsicle.'

* * *

(Alternate Timeline)

' Wake up, sleepyhead!' Kylo's bedroom door was banged open violently.

He groaned and sat up, his hand groping hopelessly for his lightsaber and his other hand trying to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

' Get up! Master Obi-wan has just gotten off his transport!' Luke shook Kylo's shoulders in an attempt to wake him. ' He's now having tea at your mother's place. We should go over and say hello!'

' Ugggh,' Kylo forced his eyes to open.

Luke got up, yanked open his wardrobe, and tossed him a new set of Jedi wear. Kylo moaned, grabbed the Jedi robes and shuffled into the refresher. After he had brushed his teeth and changed, he stumbled out to the living room. Luke threw away his datapad and started fussing about his Padawan braid, ' Look! Your braid is a mess. Let me redo it for you.' He expertly redid Kylo's braid.

' Leia's special tea will fix you up,' Luke said, pushing Kylo out of their quarters, and all the way to Leia's place.

He yanked open Leia's door, and ushered Kylo into the living room. His grandfather and Obi-wan were already there, sitting at the small dining table. Kylo guessed Leia was working in the kitchen.

' Ah, Luke! Ben!' Obi-wan turned around and smiled good-naturedly at them. ' It's been a long time!'

Kylo immediately doubled up his mental shields, and the shields were so strong that he was sure not even Snoke could get past it. Obi-wan Kenobi was older than he had expected. His hair had more white in it than ginger. And his face was lined with wrinkles. Kylo wasn't entirely sure how he could withstand a lot of action, but again, Master Yoda of the old Jedi Order (he was most terrified when he walked past the Force Ghost of Yoda the other day) was quite old too.

' Indeed!' Luke grinned, and he sat down next to Anakin. ' Where's Rey though?'

In the kitchen, Leia yelled, ' She's at the Jedi initiate art workshop.'

' Oh,' Obi-wan said. ' I was hoping to see her. But well, I will see her at dinner, anyways.'

Leia stepped out of the kitchen, holding a tray laden with steaming mugs of tea. She set the tray down on the table, and passed out the mugs. Kylo sniffed his mug of tea tentatively. As much as he remembered, his mother back home wasn't a very good cook. Well, she was always busy with her _Senator_ stuff.

' Ben? I thought you like tea,' Leia said.

' Oh yeah, I'm about to drink it,' Kylo said, hastily taking a sip to divert the suspicion. It was surprisingly good. He tasted dozens of spices and herbs. Technically, all the flavours shouldn't go together, but yet it did. He took another sip, savouring the tea. And the delicious smelling steam gave him a surge of renewed energy, as if he had just drank a pitcher of Phasma's extra strong trooper coffee (yeah, Phasma made coffee for her troopers when she was in a good mood).

Okay. His mother here was a good cook. What else?

Obi-wan was enjoying the tea too. ' Ah, it's always nice to have a cup of Leia's tea,' Obi-wan said pleasantly. ' Though I can taste... Is that...?'

' Yep, native spices from Shili,' Leia said happily. ' A birthday gift from Master Ahsoka. It's nice, isn't it? So, how was your mission?'

' It was successful,' Obi-wan said. ' We managed to drive away the band of bandits from the local area, but it would have been faster if it weren't for my stupid, aching back! I guess I am starting to become an Old Man.'

' You have always been an Old Man,' Anakin said cheerfully, and Obi-wan glared at him murderously.

' Master Nema whips up excellent herbal wraps,' Luke suggested. ' They work beautifully on aching joints or backs.'

' Thank you, Luke, I'll go and get some later,' Obi-wan winced, rubbing a small part of his back. ' But I'm getting too old to get involved in any type of action. I'm thinking of retiring soon. It's about time I give my position as Grandmaster of the Jedi Order to Ahsoka.'

' WHAT?' Anakin spat out his mouthful of tea. ' _Making Snips the Grandmaster?!'_

' We've been through this, Anakin!' Obi-wan frowned. ' I thought I told you that I have set my heart on making Ahsoka the next Grandmaster. No one can ask for a better successor.'

' Oh, the horror,' Anakin wheezed dramatically. ' I am about to be outranked by my own Padawan.' Luke and Leia giggled.

Obi-wan said, ' Well... You didn't want the position! Ahsoka's the next one in line, so...'

Anakin demanded, ' What are you going to do after you retire? Frolicking in the fields and crafting flower crowns with Master Windu?'

' I was thinking of having tea with Master Yoda. But flower crown crafting sounds brilliant too. Do you want one? I can make a nice pink one for you. You can wear it like a bonnet in your hair,' Obi-wan said serenely, and Luke bursted out laughing.

' No thank you,' Anakin said coolly. ' Pink is not my colour.'

' Are you sure?' Obi-wan grinned. ' It brings out the colour of your eyes and your lightsaber.'

Anakin eyed him irritatedly, ' Pink doesn't go with blue, Old Man. You know that. That's why Ahsoka never wears a bright pink headdress to go with her lekku and montrals.'

' Good point,' Obi-wan muttered under his breath, and he decided to let go of the matter. ' Let's go out for lunch. Do you want to come with us?'

' Oh, I'd love to come,' Leia's face fell. ' But I have a lightsaber class to teach.'

' Me too,' Luke smiled ruefully. ' I need to help Ezra in the archives. He has some kind of... Ah... Datapad problem.'

' Oh well then,' Obi-wan said. ' It's just Anakin, me and Ahsoka. The Clone Wars trio. Just like the old times.'

' The Hero with No Fear, the Negotiator and the Youngest Knight,' Anakin snickered (Kylo, Luke and Leia snorted), brushing away his tears of laughter. ' Oh, man, the titles. The Holonet reporters should be congratulated for coming up with such ridiculous titles. I thought the titles Negotiator and Hero with No Fear are pretty bad, but the Youngest Knight is worse! Do you remember Ahsoka's face when this title was gloriously bestowed upon her?'

' Yeah!' Obi-wan said enthusiastically. ' It was so funny. I still have no idea how the Holonet reporters managed to get wind of her Knighting.'

 _Obi-wan's_ _Flashback_

 _It was a joyous occasion for the Jedi Order. Ahsoka was to be Knighted at the age of 17, breaking Anakin's record as the youngest Jedi to be Knighted._

 _The Knighting Ceremony was supposed to be a secret, but he had no idea who had let the cat out of the bag. Because when Ahsoka stepped out from the Temple to go to the clone barracks (the 501st held a party to celebrate her graduation to Knighthood and return), Holonet reporters started to swarm around her._

 _She was dazed, of course, when the hundreds of reporters started to stick their microphones under her chin, even if Anakin tried to shove them away, they came back and relentlessly pursued her._

 _Finally, a reporter said, ' Ms. Tano, you were the Apprentice of the Hero with No Fear, who was apprenticed to the Negotiator! and therefore you deserve your own title! Er, the Youngest Knight! What do you say?' Before the terrified Ahsoka could say anything, the reporters_ _jumped onto the title with glee._

 _' Yeah! The Youngest Knight!'_

 _' The Negotiator, the Hero with No Fear and the Youngest Knight! The best Jedi team ever!'_

 _' This title is so good.'_

 _Ahsoka stood in the middle of the chattering crowd, her face mingled with frustration, anger and helplessness, and since the cameras were trained onto her, she forced a painful, twisted smile (it looked like a cross between a grimace and a smirk)._

 _'_ I still have that holo of her interview,' Anakin grinned. ' Her smile is golden. Well... Back to our lunch business.'

' What about Ben?' Obi-wan pointed out. ' Can he go with us?'

Kylo's heart filled with dread. He was hoping that Obi-wan would never talk to him.

' Er, I need to check...' Luke poked at his datapad, which contained Kylo's daily schedule. ' Well, he is supposed to attend Language class at 1, but apparently Master Palmer is ill, so it is cancelled.'

' Oh dear,' Obi-wan said sympathetically. ' What happened?'

' Some kind of fever, I think,' Luke looked up from the datapad. ' Not too serious, but she'll be bedridden for a day or so. Master Nema will fix her up. Anyways, yeah, Ben can go with you.'

Kylo forced a smile. Lunch with his grandfather and Ahsoka wouldn't be that bad. But he would need to increase the security on his mental shields with Obi-wan around.

 **:D The Son is being nice. For once.**


	13. Chapter 13

(Original Timeline)

Poe had barely slid open the ship's door when an orange and white spherical droid collided into him and started beeping happily at him.

' Hey, buddy!' Poe patted the droid delightedly. ' It's good to see you. I know, I know, sorry for leaving you without a notice.' The droid rolled over and greeted Rey cheerfully with a flurry of Binary. His dome whirled around, and spotted Ben. It rolled back, beeped in alarm and tried to warn Poe to stand back.

 _It's... It's Kylo Ren!_ He squealed in terror. Well, he had never seen the real Kylo Ren in person, but he had seen holos of the horrible Sith-in-training and heard about him. After all, Kylo Ren had wanted to kidnap him for Luke Skywalker's map.

He was about to bring out his welding torch, so Poe said hastily, ' BB-8, buddy, he's not Kylo Ren.'

 _Not Kylo Ren?_ BB-8's dome twirled in confusion. _He looks like Kylo Ren! He once kidnapped you!_

 _'_ Uhhh, you can go and ask R2,' Poe spotted Luke walking towards them. ' See you later, buddy, we need to talk to Master Skywalker.' BB-8 reluctantly rolled away.

' I believe you have your crystals,' Luke sauntered over to them.

Both of them took out their crystals and showed it to the Jedi Master. ' Hmm,' Luke allowed himself to look impressed. ' Two crystals? You could build a double-bladed lightsaber with it, since you are quite familiar with using a quarterstaff.' Then his smile faltered, ' But... Our best double-bladed lightsaber crafter, Lora, is... well, dead. And I don't exactly know how to build one.'

' Oh,' Rey said, disappointed. She wanted to make a double-bladed lightsaber.

Ben spoke up, ' Actually... I know how to build one.'

' You do?' Luke raised an eyebrow.

' Yeah, my good friend, Ahna, uses a double-bladed lightsaber,' He nodded. ' We were in the same group for the Gathering. And I watched her build her double-bladed lightsaber on the ship when I was done with mine. She gave me some extra pointers, too. It's not that hard.'

Luke brightened, ' Good! Then you can help Rey.'

' Thanks, Ben!' Rey beamed, putting the crystals away. ' And by the way, we saw the Son.'

' The Son?' Luke said, alarmed. ' Why? What did he say? Did he hurt you?'

' No, he was being unusually friendly and helpful,' Ben shuddered. ' I demanded him to send me back, but he refused.'

' We'll have to discuss this strange matter with the other Jedi. Anyways, let's get inside,' Luke gestured to the entrance of the base. ' Leia wants to see you.'

They walked past the large base common rooms (fortunately most of the members were used to Ben's presence, so they didn't stare at him anymore), into the General's quarters. Leia was sitting behind her desk, intently reading from a datapad. She looked up when they entered, and her face broke into a grin, ' Ben! Rey! Poe! It's good to see you all again.'

' They have their crystals,' Luke said.

' Great! That's wonderful!' She smiled genially. ' And I have good news for you all too. Mission 501 has proved successful, and our agents are returning with intel and whereabouts of the First Order.'

Ben frowned. Mission 501? What was that?

Poe exclaimed, ' Mission 501? The top-secret one? Great!'

' What is Mission 501?' Rey asked. ' Do you know?'

' Oh no, I don't,' Poe said quickly. ' It's a top secret mission, and first priority too! Everyone knows about its existence, but no one actually knows who is involved or what it is about. I guess we'll finally know about it when the agents return. I'd love to meet them.'

' It has to be highly confidential, in case there are First Order spies amongst our ranks. Only a selected few know about it. Ackbar, Wedge and a few others,' Leia explained.

' Spies?' Ben whispered. He hadn't thought about it, but... What if there were First Order spies in the Resistance? Wouldn't they report to Snoke about his treachery.

Luke said, ' Don't worry Ben. I made sure there are no First Order spies upon my return. I have developed a skill of sensing whether someone is lying or untrustworthy through the Force. I have eliminated the spies, and fortunately, there were only three of them. Two of them were technicians and one of them was a kitchen boy.'

' Woah, that means you can read my thoughts?' Poe asked.

' No, I can only sense whether you are trustworthy or not,' Luke corrected. ' A handy skill, I must say.'

There was a small beep from Leia's datapad. She tapped on the screen, ' Good. The agents have just returned. And... You three must be awfully hungry after your journey. You should go and have lunch.'

Ben's stomach rumbled at the mention of lunch.

' Great idea, General,' Poe said, bowed awkwardly at Leia and led them out of the room.

They picked up their food (stew, sautéed potatoes and iced juice) at the mess hall, and met up with Finn, who was extremely happy to see them, at their usual table. While Ben was gulping down food, a hush fell over the room. They looked up... To see...

Stormtroopers! Eight of them, in fact.

Ben dropped his spoon. Poe choked violently on his stew. Rey gasped. Finn paled, ' They... They found us!'

But... The Stormtroopers were accompanied by Leia herself, which was strange. Something told Ben that they could be trusted. And... Their armour... Was painted in a variety of colours. Blue, red, grey and yellow. He didn't know First Order Stormtroopers were allowed to paint their armour. At least he knew Phasma wouldn't allow that.

' The... The First Order!' A young pilot yelled in fear, and raised his blaster.

' Stand down, Mick,' Leia said calmly. ' These people are not Stormtroopers. In fact... They are the agents of the Mission 501. And I hereby announce that Mission 501 is successful.' Ben watched in amazement as the nervous atmosphere vanished at once, and everyone started muttering excitedly.

The same pilot shouted eagerly, ' Then can we know about Mission 501 at last?'

' Yes,' Leia smiled. ' These eight men have been working undercover amongst the First Order as Stormtroopers for nearly a decade. Upon their return, they have gathered a lot of First Order intel for us.' A cheer rose up, and the people started to applaud them.

' Now, why don't you take off your helmets and join us?' Leia told them, and the eight mysterious troopers obediently removed their helmets.

They were rather old, Ben noticed. Hmm... They looked familiar... They looked just like... Ben gasped.

They were clones!

Not just any clones. They were Ben's friends! He could recognise every single one of them, judging from their armour colour and tattoos. The other Jedi younglings had no idea how he managed to recognise the clones. To them, the clones were the same. But to Ben, they were individuals with unique personalities.

Rex, Kix and Dogma in blue paint spattered armour. Cody and Gregor in shiny amber. Wolffe in light grey. Fox in bright red. And Bly in yellow, but the paint was a bit strange, it was more of a dull mustard yellow shade.

They nodded respectfully at Leia, and shuffled off.

Ben returned to his stew, but someone clapped him on the shoulder. He looked up to find Rex smiling warmly at him. ' Well well well, what do we have here?'

* * *

(Alternate Timeline)

Kylo was squashed in between Ahsoka and Obi-wan at the back of a big yellow speeder. And his grandfather was going to drive.

' Please, Anakin, drive slower,' Obi-wan pleaded. Anakin looked back and gave them a wink.

' Oh, that's not a good sign,' Ahsoka muttered.

Kylo asked, ' Why-' Before he could finish his sentence, Anakin pushed a switch and they blasted out of the speeder hangar into the busy Coruscant traffic at breakneck speed.

He was probably screaming, he didn't know, but he was clutching at Ahsoka and Obi-wan's arms in terror. His stomach lurched and his face felt raw from the wind whipping in his face.

They stopped abruptly in front of a shabby looking diner. Obi-wan clamped a hand to his mouth, looking rather green. Ahsoka was fine (she was used to this kind of crazy driving), and she looked down at Kylo, who was still clutching at her arm like a lifeline.

' Sorry,' Kylo said, and extracted his hand hurriedly.

' It's fine,' Ahsoka said pleasantly. ' Skyguy always flies like there are hundreds of vulture droids chasing him. I'll drive when we return.'

' Are you sure?' Anakin snickered. ' I can drive, you know.'

 _Please, Grandfather, no..._ Kylo wanted to moan. As much as he respected Anakin, he didn't like his flying at all.

' No!' Obi-wan said sharply, giving Anakin his most severe 'Grandmaster' glare. ' Let Ahsoka drive. I don't intend to barf up my lunch later at the Council Meeting.'

' Tsk,' Anakin said, climbed out of the speeder and offered his dizzy master a hand.

They had barely entered the diner, when a loud, cheerful voice shouted, ' Ah! You three! It's been a long time!' A young Besalisk in a soup-stained apron came into view from the noisy kitchen.

' Yes, hello, Alex,' Obi-wan said. ' How's Dex?'

' Oh, my pops is enjoying retirement,' Alex grinned. ' He spends his days watching the Holonet Chanel with mom. Sometimes he cooks for the family, but I have taken up his post as the family chef. Oh! This handsome lad must be your grandson, Anakin!' Kylo mumbled his greetings.

' Yes,' Anakin said proudly. ' He takes after me, of course.' Obi-wan rolled his eyes.

' Of course!' Alex said, wiping his hands with his apron. ' Please take a seat. You'll all be having the usual, I suppose?'

Ahsoka nodded, ' Yes, no fries for me today.'

Anakin gasped in horror, ' No fries?'

' It's the younglings' favourite Fry Day today! We'll be having fries for dinner,' Ahsoka said. ' Can't have too much. Or else I will have a sore throat.'

Anakin told Alex, ' Add in the fries anyways. I'll take hers if she doesn't want it.'

' Sure!' Alex disappeared into the kitchen to cook.

They got seated at a booth next to the window. And in several minutes, Alex reappeared with their heaping trays of food. Kylo stared at his food. A gigantic cheeseburger, XXL fries, onion rings and soda. It was obvious that the three enjoyed junk food. Anakin began digging into his meal ravenously.

Well, the food was greasy, but really good. While Kylo helped himself to onion rings, he listened with half an ear to Ahsoka and Obi-wan's serious Council conversation. They were talking about this guy called Boba Fett. He thought the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember who that was. Though he did have a feeling that this guy had something to do with his dear, old father.

' It's been months since the last attack,' Obi-wan said nervously. ' I wonder what they are up to. They must be plotting something.'

' I know. I thought they were going to target the Celebration Day. We had troopers stationed all around the Temple as you ordered and Jedi Masters standing guard with the younglings. But they didn't do anything,' Ahsoka shuddered.

' You two are being too paranoid,' Anakin said, nearly spraying them with bits of onion. ' Oops, sorry. They scanned the planet and Rex reckons he is not on Coruscant.'

Obi-wan glared at him, ' They might be secretly plotting another attack. The hunters are cunning. Do you remember the time when they kidnapped Jedi younglings right under our noses?'

' We got them back, didn't we?' Anakin said, carefully taking Ahsoka's portion of fries.

' That is not the point!' Obi-wan said impatiently. ' We need to stay alert. Who knows when they are going to strike next.'

' Whatever you say, Master. But you worry too much,' Anakin said, nonchalantly stealing some of Obi-wan's fries while he wasn't looking.

* * *

Kylo liked Dex's Diner so much that he suggested that place when Poe asked them to meet up for lunch the other day.

He would never admit it, but he was starting to enjoy the boys' company. He had never had friends. The Padawans in his Uncle's stupid Order didn't count, because he kept himself a distance during trainings. Bah, Hux and others were plain annoying. The other Knights of Ren rarely talked.

' Hi, sorry, we're late.' Poe and Finn appeared. They were half an hour late.

' It's fine,' Kylo said. ' What happened?'

Finn scowled, ' That slime Tarkin yelled at us after the lesson, thanks to that tattle-taling Hux!'

Hux? He existed here too? Kylo sat up, ' What? Hux?'

' Yes, Hux, our classmate,' Poe said furiously. ' He is so full of himself! _Yeah, I am rich, handsome, smart and bla bla bla._ Worst of all, Tarkin likes him! I honestly don't know how his cousin deals with him.'

' Hux's cousin?'

' Yeah, Phasma. She wants to become the first female trooper,' Poe rolled his eyes. ' Think about that.'

' I hate Tarkin,' Finn took his menu. ' Ugh.'

' What's wrong with him though?' Kylo asked.

' _What?'_ Poe gasped loudly, earning him some scandalised glares from nearby customers. ' Tarkin nearly got Master Tano killed in a silly trial! Remember? He totally hates the Jedi. And children, except for dear Hux. And some of us reckon that he is part of the Sidious plot even though there is no evidence. Yeah yeah, I bet he will turn against us once he has the opportunity.'

' Uhh, yeah,' Kylo lied between his teeth, even though he had no idea what they were babbling on about.

' I have no idea how the others put up with him,' Finn said furiously. ' I hope Yularen will be back before Tarkin drives me crazy. I'd even take Needa, Piett or Veers. They are not as nice as Yularen but at least they are good teachers.'

 _Okay,_ _supposed-to-be Imperial officers working as teachers,_ Kylo noted with disgust. _What a waste of talents._

' Yularen won't be back so soon. He's currently investigating that Boba Fett fiasco with the 501st, ' Poe sighed. ' They say he's one of the smartest.'

Finn groaned, ' Oh great. Another semester with Tarkin.'

' What's with this Boba guy?' Kylo asked, feeling stupid.

On the cue, Poe exclaimed, ' Woah, bro! Have you been practicing your lightsaber moves in the dojo all day long? You are out of touch with the world, man! Boba Fett! That famous bounty hunter who hates the Jedi so much that he captures or kill them for bounty!'

' Why? _Sorry_ , I forgot,' Kylo resisted the temptation to strangle Poe with the Force for daring to speak to him like that.

Poe said, ' Because the Jedi killed his father! Jango Fett! Mace Windu, I think, killed Jango Fett in the Battle of Geonosis! He has been holding a grudge against the Jedi ever since, but he's been more murderous and active in Jedi hunting activities these years.'

Ohh. Boba Fett. That one. Kylo wanted to send him flowers for putting his father in carbonite.

Finn frowned mightily, ' I think you ought to be more careful, Ben. After all, that guy's targeting you guys. He attacked a youngling Senate trip last time, so your little sister is in danger too. Well, let's not dwell on this grim topic for too long. Can we place the orders? I'd like a large pepperoni and cheese pizza.'

He watched quietly as Poe placed in their lunch orders to the waiter. Finn was right. If there was this Jedi killer running around, Rey and his family were in great danger. Then he shook his head to clear out the errant thoughts. Why would he care? He was Kylo Ren, a Dark Side user and he no longer cared about his family or the Light Side.

However, some part of his mind grew anxious from Finn's words. He still hated his uncle and parents, but without realising, he was actually rather fond of his little sister and some other Jedi, perhaps. He respected and admired his grandfather and Ahsoka. Well, Ezra was alright. And, er, maybe even Caleb.

Could this be... A calling from the Light?

 **Aha! Kylo is confused! :D**

 **I will be getting my braces soon. :OOOOOOO I'm kinda nervous!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Unfortunately, the Siege of Mandalore and the Crimson Corsair book plot will have to be ignored here. :(**

(Original Timeline)

Poe and the others watched with much trepidation as each of the clones took turns patting him on the back.

Fortunately, Leia must have told them about him, because they didn't shoot him to death with a blaster (seriously, every Resistance member hates Kylo Ren for his crimes against the Republic).

They looked pretty old, Ben noticed. Back at home, the Kaminoans stopped the clones' age acceleration before they got too old, so most of them were still looking rather youthful and kind of stopped ageing. That wasn't the case here. All of them sported white hair or beards. Ben guessed that they were pretty old when someone put a stop to their age acceleration.

' You know them, don't you?' Rey peered at the clones interestedly.

' Yeah,' Ben said. ' But they look... So old.'

' They are like nice old grandpas,' Poe commented.

Finn seemed confused, ' I thought the clones were brainwashed into becoming the original Stormtroopers at the end of the Clone Wars! How the heck did they end up in the Resistance?'

' Maybe they rebelled?' Rey suggested.

' Under Darth Vader's very own nose?' Poe shook his head. ' Very unlikely. They say Vader can sniff for traitors like a bloodhound.'

Finn sniggered,' Does he even have a nose? I mean, he's this hulking robot-'

' You had better hope that Anakin's ghost didn't hear that,' Rey said, stifling a smile. ' I think he's pretty sensitive.'

Ben said, ' Well, we can ask them. But is that a good idea?'

' I have a better idea. Let's just ask the ghost of Darth Vader himself,' Poe said.

' But... Where to find him? We don't exactly know his whereabouts,' Finn said curiously.

' We can summon him later, after we finish our lightsabers,' Ben grinned.

* * *

They decided to build their lightsaber outdoors. Rey chose a rather nice, quiet spot at the makeshift park (' No one goes there,' Poe admitted) and they sat down with boxes and boxes of tools.

' That's waaaaaaay more than you actually need,' Finn sorted through the strange tools that he couldn't name. ' Why do you even need...' He held up a strange silver studded piece.

Ben ignored him and started reaching for the parts he needed. Fortunately, his lightsaber was one of the more simple designs (he added some personal twists to it, but it shouldn't be hard), so he had all the parts. But Rey was staring at the box. She had no idea what to take.

Ben sighed. It was true he had seen double-bladed lightsabers, but he had no idea how to make a design for one. Sure, he had seen holos of old Republic saberstaffs in History class. The patterns on the hilt were so intricate and the workmanship was impeccable that he was so sure he'd never be able to recreate anything as beautiful as that. So, no.

 _Well,_ he told himself. _Ahna's lightsaber design is simple. I could just copy her design..._

A small voice in his brain shouted out _she's going to kill you._

 _Yeah! But she won't know._

Alright then. He hoped that the Force wouldn't punish him for plagiarising his good friend's lightsaber design. Not exactly, though. He'd change the shape of the blade emitter. He had always disliked how Ahna had shaped her blade emitters, but since he valued his life, he said nothing about it.

' Let's start with a simple design,' Ben said aloud, picking out the basic parts for Rey. ' Since it's a double-bladed lightsaber...' To his own surprise and horror, he began spewing out a bunch of sophisticated lightsaber building and mechanical facts.

' W-wow,' Finn said, jaw dropping. ' How do you know so many stuff?'

' Let's say my best friend takes interest in swallowing up random texts in the archives and throwing them in my face,' Ben said plainly. ' And my grandfather loves tinkering. Let's start then.'

He sat down cross-legged, arranged the parts into a rough shape of his lightsaber hilt on the floor, and carefully placed his crystal in the centre. He found Rey staring, and asked, ' What?'

' What do I do?' She said, desperately trying to remember Ben's instructions and assembling her parts.

' That's actually correct, except... There,' Ben rearranged the power cell. ' Now reach into the Force, and assemble the stuff with it.'

' What?' Rey stared at him.

' Hm?' He stared back.

' ... How?'

' The Force will guide you,' Ben said, sitting up. ' Trust in the Force.'

Rey nodded, and closed her eyes.

Ben took a deep breath, and with well practiced ease, he levitated the stuff (judging from Poe and Finn's gasps, he guessed he had succeeded) and moved them around with his mind until the final piece clicked.

' That was quick,' Poe said.

' Master Luke made me disassemble my lightsaber all the time,' He shrugged. ' Ahsoka also said I have to be familiar with my lightsaber design, just in case... I inherited my grandfather's habit of losing lightsabers.'

Rey was still working, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. She was working well for a beginner, and yeah, Ben always knew Rey was powerful with the Force.

' Done!' Rey grabbed her lightsaber. ' That felt weird. But it's like... The Force was pushing and encouraging me.'

' I told you so,' Ben said. ' Let's ignite our lightsabers together... 1... 2... 3!'

 _Snap-hiss!_

Ben's blade was bright emerald green, much to his satisfaction. And Rey's blades were blue.

' The colours are beautiful,' Finn said dreamily.

' We are done with our lightsabers, so let's summon the ghost,' Rey said. ' Any ideas?'

' Dunno... Let's try...' Poe hollered. ' ANAKIN? ANAKIN? WE NEED YOU, ANAKIN!'

Nothing happened.

' Er, I have an idea,' Ben said. ' SAND! ANAKIN! SAND!'

' You can't summon a ghost with the stuff he hates,' Finn commented. ' He's a sand-hating terror. Let me try... Er... HEY, HANDSOME ANAKIN! WE NEED YOU! YOU ARE AWESOME AND COOL!'

Those were the magic words. They watched, as the air in front of them shimmered magically, and he just appeared at the picnic table. Obi-wan was there, too. They were working on a lump of something.

' I know I am handsome,' Ghost-Anakin said impressively. ' But I'm working.'

' On what?' Ben tried to look at their work.

' Master Yoda's birthday present. Look, we are making a Yoda statue!'

Upon closer examination, the 'lump of something' was in fact a crudely made clay figurine that didn't resemble the esteemed former Grandmaster. It probably looked like Snoke if they cut off the strange, mismatched ears, Ben guessed.

' That's, er, wonderful,' Poe lied. ' So, Master Skywalker, do you know anything about the clones?'

' Clones?' Ghost-Anakin dropped his carving knife. ' Rex and the others are back?'

' Yep. All of them.'

' Oh, I can't wait to see Cody and Gregor again,' Obi-wan chimed in, wrapping some more clay around the figurine.

Rey said, ' Well, we want to ask about the clones. How did they end up here? Weren't they supposed to be working as Stormtroopers? Rumour has it that they have control chips that are impossible to remove-'

' One question at a time, young lady!' Obi-wan said serenely. ' Those clones didn't stay in the Empire for long after that cursed Order 66 happened. Not all of them took part in Order 66, actually. Kix was in coma and placed in a bacta tank for intensive treatment at that time. Dogma was still in custody. Rex, Wolffe and Gregor deserted the army. Fox was staying with the Emperor. Yeah, Cody and Bly participated in it, but they were terribly regretful once the effects of the program wore off. Afterwards, Kix, Dogma and some others deserted the Empire because they didn't want to work in it.'

' But... You let them go?' Ben asked Ghost-Anakin.

' I did, yes. _Whoops_ ,' Ghost-Anakin said, accidentally putting a hole through the figurine Yoda's cape. ' I have always been fond of my men. Most of the older clones left, leaving Appo and the shinies behind.'

' How did they end up in the Resistance?'

' Well, that Ezra and his crew managed to get Rex into the Rebellion. Wolffe and Gregor eventually joined as well. After the war against the Empire, Rex had been trying to search for his other brothers. Most of them were still in hiding, but he managed to find Kix, Dogma, Fox and Bly. They started working together again,' Ghost-Anakin said. ' Happy ending. Now... You got your story, and I need to finish my figurine. Oh! Master Yoda will be so happy with his present!'

' Er, okay,' Rey said, and they watched as the ghosts disappeared along with their misshaped figurine.

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

Kylo almost missed his Uncle's stupid Jedi Order. Almost.

The Jedi instructors gave him so much homework that he literally spent days to clear them off his desk.

His Uncle never gave that much homework! None of the instructors did. That was one of the better things about his Uncle's Order.

He was working on a particularly nasty one issued by the Language instructor on some kind of dramatic, missing poet (he didn't care about it). He groaned, wanting to bash his head against the window.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. A large ship was zooming down towards the Jedi Temple's direction... And that shape! The Millennium Falcon!

That could only mean one thing!

His father!

He hadn't exactly thought about it, but his weak and foolish father was pretty much alive in this timeline. Which was bad. Really bad.

Immediately, the door to his room swung open, and Luke ran in, screaming, ' Han is back! Han is back! Let's go and meet him at the hangar-'

' I have tons of homework, Master!' Kylo protested.

Luke seized his arm painfully, ' You can finish that when you get back later! Now come!'

Oh, man. He didn't want to see his father.

He came to resent and hate his parents when he was growing up in the Jedi Temple. He guessed that was also why he chose the Dark Side.

His parents never really cared about him. His mother was a famous Senator, rising through the ranks of the new Senate. His father always left to go on dangerous smuggling missions in the Outer Rim worlds. Since they were too busy to look after him and he had the potential to become a Jedi, they sent him off to his Uncle's Jedi school to train with some other snobbish kids.

It was unbearable. He never learnt what it was like to live with a family. The other kids jeered and mocked at him for not having a family. He would get so upset by their harsh words that he locked himself up in his quarters, until Luke made him go down to have dinner.

He waited for holo calls from his parents, and would go to bed disappointedly when he didn't get one. By the time he became a Padawan, he was so sure his parents had forgotten about him.

Finally, someone understood his pain. One night, Snoke approached him in a vision.

 _Your family doesn't want you,_ Snoke had told him. _Why do you stay if they have failed you? Join me. I can train you in the ways of the Dark, and you can have all the power you want. They betrayed you, and you shall be more powerful than those fools can be._

Power sounded great. And he wished to follow his grandfather's path. So he answered Snoke's call.

But right now, his blasted Uncle was dragging him off to see his father. He wasn't sure if he was mentally prepared for it, because the last time he saw him, Han Solo had a lightsaber buried in his chest, and had stared at him with an expression of incredulous betrayal. The grown-up Rey was screaming in the background. Not the best family reunion.

They arrived at the hangar bay... And... It seemed like Han Solo had made himself a lot of Jedi friends, because Ahsoka, Ezra and Caleb were there, standing near the Millennium Falcon.

The side door slid open, and there was this loud, excited Wookiee roar. Could that be... Chewie?

The famous Han Solo swaggered out, in all his handsome, youthful glory. On the cue, Ahsoka, Ezra and Caleb cheered. ' Luke! I see you, my friend!' Han shouted. ' And... WHERE'S MY BOY, BEN?'

Kylo grimaced, and answered, ' I'm here, Dad.'

Han beamed, ran forward and started ruffling Kylo's hair, ' That's my boy! He's growing bigger and bigger! What have you and Leia been feeding him? Magical growing mushrooms?' Chewie engulfed Kylo in a massive, warm hug. Again, Kylo hated to admit it, but he liked Chewie's hugs.

' Well, that's because of the training. Body building, healthy diet and stuff,' Luke coughed.

' Good! He's going to be the best Jedi ever,' Han beamed with pride. ' I'm so proud of you, my son.'

The last line struck Kylo like an arrow. Proud? His father was never proud of him. Snoke said his father didn't want him. He stood there, in a trance, and he didn't even notice Han calling out for his wife.

' Eugh,' Ezra's gags brought him back to reality. ' Are they kissing now?' True, Leia and Han were locked in a passionate embrace.

' Sure, they haven't seen each other for ages,' Caleb said. ' I haven't seen my wife for quite some time now. Aaah. Love. Hey kid, did Leia tell you how she met Han?'

' Um, I don't know?' Kylo said, and he mentally added, _I don't want to know._

Caleb continued (not knowing Kylo's real feelings), ' Ah, it's a beautiful story, really. When Leia was on her final mission before achieving Knighthood, she got kidnapped by some rogue leftover Separatists and dragged off to some kind of distant Outer Rim planet. Coincidentally, Master Obi-wan and Luke were stranded on Tatooine thanks to a mission, and they received Leia's distress call. They had no choice but to get to the Cantina and struck a deal with Han, who agreed to take them to that planet on his ship. They performed a speedy rescue mission, and afterwards, Leia and Han fell in loooooove. What a beautiful story, it brings tears to my eyes.'

Looking at his parents, Kylo felt more conflicted than ever.

 **Well I tried to interpret Kylo's fall to the Dark. :P**

 **Hints for next chapter... Hmm... Ben and Rey will go to Malachor. And Kylo... Has anger problems. Again. The next chapter should be up pretty soon. :D**

 **Okay, so here's the Me and Star Wars section...**

 **Me: *texts* #ahsokalives**

 **Classmate: ...**

 **Me: #ahsokalives**

 **Classmate: ... What is that supposed to be?**

 **Me: Ahsoka Tano!**

 **Classmate: ...**

 **Me: One of my fave Star Wars characters... Who is presumably 'killed' by Darth Vader.**

 **Classmate: *knows a bit about the fandom without watching the films thanks to me* Well... Everyone is killed by Darth Vader.**

 **Me: Nay! She is not! Technically she LIVES! SHE CRACKS OPEN A PART OF DARTH VADER'S MASK! AND SHE SHALL LIVE BECAUSE I SEE HER AT THE END WALKING DOWN THE TEMPLE SO-**

 **Classmate: *capslocked* OH YAY CAPITALS AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT**


	15. Chapter 15

(Original Timeline)

Since both of them had finished their lightsabers, Luke announced that they were ready to embark on their journey to find Ahsoka Tano.

Ben was ready for any type of challenge. If he could fight off a nest of angry gungans (long story), then he could definitely survive this thing. Rey wasn't so sure, even though Poe and Finn were quick to remind her that she had fought off Kylo Ren with zero training. She pointed out it was a fluke, but Finn wasn't that convinced.

So they were off to the dangerous Sith spirit inhabited planet without any backup or assistance from Poe.

They came out of hyperspace soon enough, and the hellish, dark looking planet came into view.

' I thought it is going to be red, you know,' Rey squinted at the planet. ' Sithy red and all.'

' It looks more like a wasteland to me, but do you feel the cold?' Ben shuddered, already feeling the darkness seeping through his veins. ' Ugh, I don't understand how Ahsoka can live in this place without going mad!'

' Who exactly is Ahsoka, by the way? Master Luke speaks of her highly, but I don't really know who she is,' Rey asked.

Ben flipped some of the controls to prepare for landing, ' Well not entirely sure if it is the same here, but she is one of the best living Jedi in the Order right now. She was the Padawan of my grandfather and fought in tons of wars when she was still a teen. Oh, and rumour has it that she's going to be the next Grandmaster when Master Obi-wan retires.'

' Wow,' Rey said in awe. ' That's very impressive.'

' She is wonderful,' He declared. ' She was the Master of my mother, so she's kind of like an aunt to me. Look, we're going down.'

They dropped down onto the surface of the planet. The door slid open, and Ben stepped out. ' Eurgh.'

They were surrounded by strange columns sticking out from the ground. Rey examined one of them closely, ' It's covered in... Weird writing.'

' Ancient Sith tongue,' Ben said grimly, and something caught his attention. There was a giant hole behind that particular column.

' I have a feeling this is the entrance of the Sith Temple,' He toed at the hole. ' I think we need to drop down. Pretty dangerous, but there's no other way.'

They jumped down the hole. Ben executed a flawless landing flip, and caught Rey, since she wasn't that good at it. Rey didn't bother to brush away the dust from her desert gear.

It didn't look like a Sith Temple at all. Instead, the place was in ruins, and it looked as if something had exploded violently in it ages ago. Bits of broken glass and rubble were littered everywhere. But in the distance, he could make out the vague shape of a half-collapsed pyramid.

Rey was lifting away small bits of rock away and she wrinkled her nose, ' This place is broken, Ben. Are you sure that Ahsoka of yours is living here?'

' I think she is in that Temple,' Ben pointed at the pyramid.

' That one? It looks crushed and scorched!' Rey exclaimed.

' Well, we can take a look. She must be around,' Ben said.

* * *

It wasn't easy, walking over the broken pieces. Twice, Rey nearly tripped and fell into dangerous looking chasms. But they eventually made it to the Temple, thirsty and tired.

Even though the Temple was battered, they could see the faint outline of a door. Ben tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He tried cutting it away with a lightsaber, and it didn't work.

' Blast,' Ben said, remembering about that certain type of door. ' We need to open it with the Force. We can only open it by doing it together. Lend me some of your power, Rey.'

Rey sighed, and held out her hand. Ben put in as much as power he could muster, and the slab of stone started to shake. It moved upwards to reveal a narrow passageway... And yet another door.

They did the same with the other door, and both of them were panting from their efforts. This time, the doors promptly slammed down and they were trapped in a large chamber, flickering with red lights that came from nowhere.

On instinct, Ben ignited his lightsaber.

 _Jedi,_ a sinister voice hissed. _Jedi! Living Jedi!_

 _We have company,_ a second shrill voice added. _Not those horrible Light-side ghosts and the green troll!_

 _We'll enjoy torturing you,_ the third voice cackled. _It has been a long time since Jedi ventured along this area. You are silly and brave._

' Ohhh great. Sith spirits,' Ben muttered, and he raised his voice, ' Go away! We do not fear you.'

 _Oh yes, you do,_ a gust of blisteringly hot wind blew in their faces.

Ben didn't like the idea of fending some crazy, invisible Sith spirits off, but he had to put up a fight to survive. Rey was simply terrified by the crazed voices, hissing and singing like an ancient, evil choir.

Ben's skin prickled, as he felt one of the Spirits float near.

 _She's here! Terrible! Pain! Agony!_

Suddenly, the spirits wailed in agony, and the red haze covering the room disappeared.

' What was that all about? Great, we are still trapped...' Rey muttered. ' Look... Ah!'

Someone walked through the wall, as if it was just butter. It was a very tall Togrutan woman dressed in what Master Obi-wan would call 'very informal Jedi attire'. Oh, Ben could recognise her. She had the beautiful face of his favourite aunt, the Jedi Master Ahsoka Tano!

She looked incredibly young (probably in her forties), which was strange. Regarding that she was much older than Luke, but the man was already going grey. This Ahsoka remained youthful, and heck, she looked even younger than Ahsoka back at home! What in the name of the Force? To complete this very strange image, a pretty green and gold bird with beady, inquisitive eyes was perched on her shoulder. He wondered whether it was a trick of light, but Ahsoka was literally glowing green.

' I've been waiting for you,' Her lips curved into a smile. ' The spirits will be coming back soon, so let's get out of this hostile place.'

* * *

(Alternate Timeline)

Believe it or not, Kylo spent a lot of time around Rey to avoid his so-called parents. They were being extra lovey-dovey, and it simply pained his eyes to witness them. He had to be sure to stay away from Caleb, who was always sighing about love these days, and teased Ezra endlessly for having a crush on a famous Mandalorian warrior.

Rey usually stayed at the creche with other younglings, and the place was normally very quiet. Well, normally. If the younglings were in a good mood.

Kylo enjoyed the peace, so he hurriedly signed up for creche duty, and stayed there. He would sometimes bring a datapad along to read or made himself hidden, and the younglings would just play around or study from guidebooks, in hopes to become a Padawan. They never talked to him, and he was fine with it.

However, his peaceful day was cut to shreds when some of the younglings decided that they wanted to bully someone. Unfortunately, being the tiniest one amongst the group, Rey was picked as their new target.

' Hey, Scrawny!' A boy said nastily, and snatched away Rey's guidebook. ' You're wasting your time, you know. You'll never be a good Jedi. Who knows that the Chosen One's granddaughter is as scrawny and tiny as this? Ha, I'd be a better Jedi!' His friends laughed.

Kylo put down his datapad, not believing his ears. He wasn't sure about the Jedi rules (ah well, he had forgotten about the Code), but he was _pretty_ sure that bullying wasn't tolerated in the Order. He didn't even know that bullies existed in the Order. And that boy! He was picking on his sister! How dare him! And he was defiling his grandfather's name! He immediately puffed up in rage.

They ripped up Rey's guidebook into shreds. Rey backed off, scared, ' You can't do this!'

' Oh yes, we can, and-' That was when Kylo lost it. He made a swift squeezing motion in the air, and immediately, the bully leader was lifted into the air, gasping and scratching at the phantom fingers clinging tightly around his throat. The other bullies huddled together, staring at Kylo in fear.

' How dare you!' He hissed, jerking the poor boy in the air like a puppet. ' That is my sister you were talking to! And I see what's in your mind! It. Is. STUPID!' Feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu, he flung the boy onto the mound of pillows near the play zone.

' Padawan Solo! _What are you doing?'_ The crechemaster bounded in, and gestured wildly at the unconscious boy.

' Um, I dunno.'

* * *

Kylo was summoned to the Council chambers immediately, thanks to a furious complaint from the crechemaster. The Master told them that Padawan Ben Solo had used a Force-choke on a poor, hapless boy.

The Council was in a state of shock. _Padawan Ben Solo_ , one of the best Padawans around, and probably the most gentle boy in his age group, Force-choking someone?

A rather distressed and stunned Luke accompanied Kylo, and stood next to him in front of the Council. Anakin looked really baffled. Obi-wan frowned at him with much disappointment. Caleb was really bemused, and Ahsoka simply sat calmly. Kylo couldn't decipher her feelings towards this event.

' Well... Padawan Solo, I must say I am surprised,' Obi-wan said, looking rather troubled. ' This isn't like you.'

' I know, Masters,' Kylo was nearly boiling in rage, but he pressed down his anger and forced a very respectful smile. ' But allow me to explain-'

Caleb interrupted, ' That's a very dangerous, Ben. The boy could be injured, and... Force-choke? That's a Dark Side technique. What say you, Master Skywalker, um, I mean, Master Luke Skywalker?'

' I apologise for my Padawan's behaviour,' Luke said, his face red, and Kylo resisted the urge to stomp his foot. ' He doesn't mean it, I think. And Ben has been really stressed out these days, he's been working very hard.'

' I'm sorry to hear that,' Luminara said severely. ' But that's a very serious transgression. He should be suspended, and put on meditative retreat.'

' WHAT?!' Kylo nearly shouted, and he was sure everyone was frowning upon his insolence. ' Masters, I-' If that boy was conscious, Kylo would have dragged him over to give the Council a good explanation.

' Masters,' Ahsoka spoke. ' Actually, we should listen to Ben. We haven't heard about the story from his perspective, have we? We must not assume anything too quickly, and I think we have all learnt a lesson about it after, you know, my Trial. '

Boom. The magic words. The Council Masters seemed less angry, which was a good sign.

' Ahsoka is right,' Anakin said. ' Speak, Padawan Solo.'

Kylo quickly blurted out his version of what had happened.

' Oh, I see,' Obi-wan stroked his beard thoughtfully. ' If that is the case... Ben, you should be commended for protecting his sister. But you shouldn't Force-choke anyone, okay? It's a highly dangerous Dark Side technique.' Anakin gulped.

Caleb added softly, ' It's not the Jedi way.'

' But what of his punishment?' A Zabrak Jedi asked.

' There's no need for a punishment,' Ahsoka said kindly. ' But I think Ben should apologise to the boy.'

' I agree wholeheartedly,' Caleb said.

' Me too. So that concludes our meeting,' Obi-wan said pleasantly. ' Padawan Solo, you are dismissed.'

Kylo sighed in relief. If there was anything he hated more than being a Jedi, that would be meditative retreats. He had had a meditative retreat camp before with his Uncle, and he absolutely disliked it. Mostly because he had to give his Uncle piggy-back rides as part of the activities besides meditating.

Before he left the Council chambers, he flashed Ahsoka a grateful smile. The Togrutan Jedi Master smiled back.

* * *

Luke walked alone in the Room of Thousand Fountains.

He knew Ben was acting weird these days. He was kind of cold towards everyone, especially his parents, which wasn't like him. And when he was training with him, Luke realised that his lightsaber style had changed. When Luke deflected his blows, he felt there was something wrong and different with it.

And now, he had Force-choked someone. The sweet, gentle Ben Solo had Force-choked someone.

Luke shook his head. He must be overthinking. Maybe Ben was just cracking under the stress. It wasn't much of a problem, but Luke had to work on it with him.

Yeah, right. It was just stress.

' He is still Ben,' Luke said aloud.

 **Luke is suspecting something, which isn't a good sign ;)**

 **Oh man, I'll be having my choir audition tomorrow, and I'm pretty nervous :OOOOO I kinda flunked my audition last year (because I was forcing myself to sing soprano when I really wasn't a soprano), and I'm trying again this year. Since there are limited slots, it's actually hard to get into the choir.**

 **Well, I'm not the best and most experienced singer, but I'll try. :P**


	16. Chapter 16

(Original Timeline)

Ahsoka led them through the walls, as if they didn't exist. At first, Ben was afraid that he would crash into the wall and end up with a big bump on his head, but then he touched the 'walls', and they were literally just air.

They walked past a massive hall, and Ben guessed it was the main chamber of the Temple. Man, it looked terrifying. Even though half of it was reduced to rubble, there was this obelisk in the centre that still crackled feebly in red electricity. The top of the chamber was a gaping hole, which let in the greyish light from the outside. All was very depressing.

She took them to the side of the chamber. ' It's a wall,' Rey said.

The bird chirped. Ahsoka simply smiled and swiped at the wall. The rocks fell away to show a dark, narrow passageway.

Okay. Ben had no idea how this Ahsoka had become an excellent magician as well as an ultra-powerful Force-user. And well, a bird friend.

And the rest of the place got even weirder. The path disappeared, and they were wading into a greyish coloured river. ' Uhhhh, Master Tano, is that safe?' Rey asked nervously.

' The water is perfectly safe,' Ahsoka said. ' And please call me Ahsoka. It makes me feel old, like Master Obi-wan.' The strange bird fluttered off her shoulder and flew gracefully above them.

 _Er... But you are supposed to be old,_ Ben wanted to say, but he didn't. He figured out this Ahsoka might be as sensitive as Ghost-Anakin, and that would be really bad.

A winding staircase appeared out of nowhere, and they climbed out of the water. The strange thing was they weren't sopping wet. Rey and Ben's clothes were magically dry.

At the top of the stairs, was an endless, scarlet hued corridor. Weird, squiggly Sith runes were carved onto the walls, and some of them were actually glowing red. Ahsoka touched some of the red runes, and they immediately glowed white. And... Hey presto! Another door cleverly disguised as a wall!

Ben had expected to see another Sith chamber, but... What he saw surprised him. It was a standard living quarters, that actually resembled a Jedi living quarters in the Jedi Temple. The colour scheme wasn't red. The walls were pale mint green and the room was actually glowing silver and gold.

There was a small bed, a closet, tables, some crates, a bathroom (how did that get here) and an enormous stone slab for meditation. There were no soft meditation cushions or the sweet smelling candles, so meditating sounded pretty uncomfortable in here.

' Well, I hope you find this place comfortable,' Ahsoka sounded apologetic. ' This Temple... Isn't a very hospitable place. This is probably the most comfortable and Light-side-feeling spot on this planet.'

It was true. The cold, dark feeling disappeared once he stepped into this room. He felt as if he had sunken into a very warm bath.

' Where are we?' Rey said in awe.

' We are at the bottom of the Temple, where the darkest secrets are stored,' Ahsoka replied. ' Fortunately, I found this safe room.'

' Um, how do you know we are here?' Ben asked.

' I sensed that someone was entering the Temple, so I asked the Daughter and she told me about you two,' Ahsoka said, and the bird twittered proudly.

Ben gawked at the bird, ' You... Are telling me this bird... Is the Daughter?' The bird cawed angrily.

' It's not just a bird,' Ahsoka said fondly. ' She's a Convor. And the Daughter can't appear in her real form in a Sith Temple, so she can only stay in her Convor form. She sings to me, and I can understand her language. So, what brings you two here? Based on my judgement, you are not Kylo Ren. Hmm... Let me guess. The Son did this to you.'

' Yeah, I am actually Ben Solo,' Ben said eagerly. ' They thought you might be able to fix it since you know a lot about the Sith.'

' Maybe,' Ahsoka said. ' I might have read about this somewhere. But I need to have a quick look at the runes before I actually fix it. Rey, you can stay in the room if you want, but Ben will have to go with me.' Rey would rather stay inside the comfortable room.

Ben and Ahsoka plunged headfirst into the chilling Darkness. The red Sith runes etched onto the walls were rather unsettling for reasons unknown, and Ben felt ill just staring at it.

' Oh, I would not stare at the runes if I were you,' Ahsoka commented lightly. ' Those ones are supposed to make you feel horribly sick. I'm fine because I've grown used to it.' Ben quickly tore his eyes away from the flickering runes.

' So what do you do with those runes?' Ben asked.

' I study them,' Ahsoka stopped abruptly. ' Okay... This should be the one. Go on, and touch it.' Ben hesitantly placed his hand on the rune. He immediately bounced back. The rune _burned._ It was literally smoking.

Ahsoka looked at the reddish smoke, ' Oh, this is not good.' She said dramatically, ' You have the Son's mark.'

' The Son's what?' He said, appalled.

' I know how to fix it, but I can't do it on my own. Like I know the steps to reverse the magic. But if the Son is responsible for putting you here in the first place, he must be the one to put you back, in order to fully break the curse,' Ahsoka explained with a great big frown. ' And that is a big problem, because we have no idea where the Son is. And even if we can find him, we have to convince him to help us.' The Daughter cooed.

' What did she say?' Ben eyed the Convor.

Ahsoka translated, ' Well, the Daughter said that she can help us find him. But that will take some time. Sure, go ahead.' The Convor hopped off her shoulder and flew upwards until she disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

' What?' Rey said fearfully. ' Ohhhhh great. Given that we can convince the Son to help us.'

Ben was explaining to her about the entire situation.

' He might be a nuisance,' Ahsoka said optimistically. ' But soon enough, he'll discover another source of entertainment and let you off. In the meantime, I will go back to the Resistance, and wait for the Daughter's return, so we can get you back to your world as soon as possible.' She opened the closet and clipped her lightsabers onto her utility belt.

Huh, the lightsaber hilts were the same.

' That's great,' Ben said, relieved. ' My grandfather will be so pleased. He thinks you are dead.'

' Of course,' She said. ' The Spirits never let him onto the planet. And the Darkness clouds over everything including lifeforms, unfortunately.'

She opened the secret door by swiping her hand onto a silver coloured rune, ' Ah, I won't miss this place. But I learnt a lot about the Sith here. It's almost silly to ask, but you do have a transport here, right?'

' Yeah,' Ben said, concentrating on getting down the dark stairs without tripping. ' How did you get here in the first place?'

' Oh, Ventress dropped me down, and I've been alone ever since,' She shrugged. ' But she came back to pick me up on Luke and Leia's birthday.'

Rey said, ' What? So you only left this planet once?'

' Twice, in fact. It was a very special occasion, forgot what it was,' Ahsoka said, stepping into the water. ' Time is very tricky in here, thanks to the Sith magic. Especially here, in the core of the Temple.'

' Oh, that's why you age differently,' Ben realised. ' But... Won't you run out of food?'

' I rarely eat,' Ahsoka smiled thinly. ' Sometimes I keep myself in a meditative trance to keep myself alive, but I do eat ration bars sometimes. Or maybe polystarch.'

' Eugh,' Rey said, thinking about the horrid taste of polystarch.

They finished the rest of the journey in silence, until they reached the Sith holocron chamber. ' How do we get out of here?' Rey looked up at the hole. ' More secret staircases?'

' You are actually correct. Stay near the obelisk, and be careful of the Sith lightning.'

The ground around them - no, it was a podium, shook violently, and they rose to the top of the Temple. ' Wizard!' Ben said, stepping out onto the dusty ground. ' We're out!'

' We must go before the spirits come back,' Ahsoka looked around. ' They can be very annoying and dangerous at the same time.'

' Let's go find our ship.'

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

' This is pretty serious,' The holo of Yularen said. ' We think that Boba Fett will be striking very soon.'

' When?' Anakin asked warily.

' The annual address of the Chancellor,' Yularen said.

' We need to tighten the security,' Ahsoka pursed her lips. ' Some of us will be attending this particular Senate address.'

' And there's a youngling visit,' Shaak pointed out. ' Should we cancel it for the sake of their safety?'

' But we can't do that,' Caleb said. ' It's a process of learning and... The holonet reporters will be having a field day if they know that we are going to bail out! Imagine the headlines... The Jedi are scaredy cats!'

Obi-wan said, ' But we can't risk the lives of our fellow Jedi younglings just to avoid crazy Holonet headlines! Yularen, do monitor Fett's whereabouts.'

Yularen sighed, ' Well, there goes another month of investigation.'

' Sorry about that,' Ahsoka said apologetically. ' But we had that Tarkin sleemo-'

' Master Snips,' Anakin said warningly.

' Whatever. Tarkin will be taking over your classes. We'll discuss about this. Thank you, Yularen,' Ahsoka scowled, showing her strong dislike for the man who nearly sent her to her death.

Yularen bowed respectfully, and the connection cut off.

* * *

Kylo was in a very conflicted state. He wanted to fully embrace the Dark Side, but the Light was calling to him as well. It felt like the Light and Dark were having a battle inside his head.

When Rey asked him to go with her to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, he agreed almost immediately. Maybe the peaceful scenery and fountains could clear his mind. And he didn't mind spending time with Rey.

' Oooooooh!' Rey ran towards a patch of multicoloured flowers. ' Flowers! They have bloomed!' She started picking at them.

Kylo plopped down next to her, and decided to meditate while Rey picked her flowers.

' Hmmmm,' She muttered. ' I can make a blue flower crown for grandfather. It suits his lightsaber... A light blue one for mom and a light green one for Uncle Luke. Maybe a blue and white one for Ahsoka... Those are her lekku colours. Should I make one for dad and Chewie?'

' Sure, give him and Chewie nice pink ones. They'll love them,' Kylo smirked.

Rey giggled. Then she poked at Kylo, ' I can make one for you too!'

' Uh,' Kylo gulped (what, him wearing flowers?!). ' I don't-' But Rey was already standing behind him with armfuls of purple and pink flowers.

She started weaving the flowers into his hair. Kylo sighed. What would Hux and Phasma say if they saw Kylo Ren, the rightful Master of the Knights of Ren, wearing flowers in his hair? But he didn't want to hurt Rey, so he stayed put.

' Rey, what do you think about the Dark Side?' Kylo asked suddenly. Rey gave a small squeak of surprise, and dropped the pink flower she was holding.

' Whoops,' She picked it up using the Force. ' Why? Ben?'

' Just tell me.'

' Er,' Rey still looked shocked. ' The Dark Side? It's scary, I think.'

' Scary? It gives you power though.'

' Well I am a Jedi already,' Rey said, her eyes wide. ' I have all the power I want, and I don't necessarily want more. Anyways, why do I need more power when I have a family?'

Family? Kylo wanted to laugh. He never had one. His parents didn't care about him.

' Why ask, Ben?' Rey was rather shaken.

' Well, you see, it's my friend,' Kylo lied. ' He's been having second thoughts about the Jedi Order.'

' But... Doesn't he have a family?'

' His mother is a Senator, and his father is a well, smuggler, like Dad. But they disowned him and dumped him in the Jedi Order. They don't care about him,' Kylo said coldly.

Rey said thoughtfully, ' I don't think so, Ben. Maybe... There's a reason for all of that? Maybe they put him in the Order to protect him? Out of love? Has your friend ever listened to his parents?'

Kylo stayed quiet.

Rey continued, ' No matter what, a family always cares about their family members. As Fives always says, family means more than blood.'

' O...Okay,' Kylo said softly. ' Er, can you not mention this in front of mom or Uncle Luke? My friend wants me to keep it a secret.'

' Sure thing, Ben,' Rey said innocently. ' Now stop moving around! I need to finish your flower crown.' Kylo allowed Rey to put more flowers into his hair.

 **Conflicts, conflicts and more conflicts! :P**

 **Well, my audition went better than I had expected. Not entirely sure if I had actually nailed it, but I did my best. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

(Original Timeline)

' SNIPSSSSSSSSS! YOU'RE ALIVE! AHSOKA LIVES!' Ghost-Anakin yelled enthusiastically, abandoning his latest clay statue project when Rey and Ben brought Ahsoka to their usual Jedi meeting place (*cough* Luke's bedroom *cough*).

Luke, Kanan and Ezra looked up and grinned at their old friend. Ghost-Anakin jumped up and examined his former apprentice closely. ' Oh no! You're so skinny! You had better eat more,' He fretted. ' What do you even eat on Malachor? Disgusting clumps of bricks?'

' Anakin. You know bricks aren't a part of Togrutan diet,' Ahsoka said, rolling her eyes.

Ghost-Anakin rubbed his ghostly hands, ' Well, I'd hug you, but you _totally_ reek of the Dark Side. Go take a shower. And maybe Leia's best floral perfume will cover that nauseatingly disgusting smell.'

' Dad!' Luke complained. ' You are being rude. Besides, I don't smell anything. You are over-exaggerating. The Dark Side doesn't smell.'

' Oh, not to you,' The ghost of Obi-wan replied. ' But we ghosts can sniff out the Dark Side.'

' Really? Go on then, what does it smell like?' Luke asked warily.

' Hmm... Something like...' Ghost-Anakin wrinkled his nose. ' Burnt toast, rusty metal, some weird smells and... Sand.'

' That doesn't sound good,' Ahsoka didn't seem offended. ' What does the Light smell like?'

' Cinnamon, chocolate, mint, vanilla, flowers and non-sand goodies,' Ghost-Anakin said dreamily. ' Delicious.'

' Oh snap out of it, will you?' Obi-wan said impatiently. ' We have Master Windu's birthday present to finish.' They were making yet another clay figurine. This time, their proud production looked like a lumpy potato. Ghost-Anakin was adding a scowl onto the face of the potato with a pen, so that it resembled an extra-large, angry potato grandpa. Frankly, it looked rather ugly to Ben but he didn't say anything about it.

Ezra and Kanan started screaming about how young Ahsoka looked. Ezra said jealously, ' You haven't aged at all! That's so unfair!'

' Well, the Sith Temple has its perks,' Ahsoka shrugged. ' How about coming along with me for a short trip? Maybe that'll make you young again. Who knows?'

' Eurgh,' Ezra said in disgust. ' Ageing delay sounds pretty tempting, but I'm not going near Malachor again.' He had no intention of revisiting the gloomy place that nearly pushed him off to the Dark Side.

' You could just shave off the beard,' Ahsoka pointed out.

' Nah I'm keeping it,' Ezra shook his head stubbornly.

Kanan asked, ' When and how did you manage to find the secrets in the Temple?'

' I didn't find it on my first try,' Ahsoka said. ' I just walked around blindly and randomly examined everything until the Daughter showed up. She led me to the secrets.'

' Do you reckon Maul knew about the secrets?' Ezra said.

' Maybe not,' Ahsoka said. ' There are some pretty dark and powerful secrets at the back of the Temple. If he had learnt about them, he would have known how to transform the Temple into a dangerous battle station, and not moping around to look out for lost tourists to help him with his evil plan. And yeah, I agree with Anakin. I do need a shower and a nice hot meal.'

' We'll get that ready for you,' Luke smiled. ' And Leia has your old belongings.'

* * *

Everyone watched as Ahsoka chowed down her food (a giant all meat platter). After finishing her meal, she sat back, much cleaner and contented. She had switched her grimy, worn armour for a comfortable burgundy coloured tunic and leggings from the box of her stuff that held her old clothes and some of her other valuable mementos. Luke had Poe deliver her belongings to her brand new quarters.

She had simply taken the first outfit she saw before she went off to take a shower. But after eating, she decided to have a good look at her old things.

' How did Leia manage to grab all my stuff?' She asked, taking out some of her old outfits and boots.

Luke said, ' Ah, she was just cleaning up the Temple after Kylo... you know, marched the place. Surprisingly, she discovered that your room was entirely untouched by the Knights of Ren when most of the rooms were either burnt or ransacked. She expected you to return some day, so she gathered your things up and took them with her.'

Ahsoka rummaged through the box, and she held up two lightsabers. ' Hey...' She said, confused. ' This... How did they get here?'

Those were her old lightsabers. The very ones she had used in the Clone Wars.

' Ohhhhh,' Ezra said. 'We found them!'

' Pardon me?' Ahsoka raised an eye marking.

Kanan explained, ' We were just touring the Coruscant underworld when we found some sleemo selling these lightsabers. Ezra recognised them from some old holos of you, so he just bought it from him. They are still in perfect condition.'

' How did they get there?' Ahsoka murmured.

' Oh, haha, I know,' Ghost-Anakin coughed. ' Because I was the one who sold them.'

' WHAT?' Ezra exclaimed.

' I was just throwing out the stuff in my quarters before the Emperor moved into the Temple, because they had no meaning to me bla bla bla,' Ghost-Anakin said sheepishly. ' I used to keep your old lightsabers, but I was fuelled with rage when I became Vader, so I just sold them.'

Ahsoka ignited her old main lightsaber, ' Well, thanks, not-Anakin! It's in perfect condition. Maybe I can fight with mismatched lightsabers! Green and white. Yellow and white. But the shoto looks pretty short to me now, haha!' She put them away.

There was a knock to the door, and Poe came in, holding yet another wooden box, but it was much smaller.

' The General told me to give this to you,' Poe said. ' It's from Maz.'

' Maz!' Rey said. ' She's alright?'

' Leia didn't say,' Poe answered. ' But she should be fine, right?'

' Thank you, Poe,' Ahsoka took the box. ' I wonder what Maz has for me.'

' You know Maz?' Rey asked excitedly.

' I do, yes,' Ahsoka winked. ' I have known her for quite a long time and we get along well. Well, well, well, what do we have here?' She held up a string of beads.

' Oh hey! I know this!' Ghost-Anakin and Rey shouted at the same time.

' What, you do?' Ghost-Anakin said skeptically.

Rey nodded, ' Yeah! I remember now! This string of beads was in the same box with Master Anakin's old lightsaber in Maz's castle! But... This belongs to you?'

' Why yes, it was my old Padawan braid,' Ahsoka said, carefully spreading the beads across her palm. ' How did it get here? Oh. Don't tell me...'

' Yep,' Ghost-Anakin said solemnly. ' I sold it.'

' Oh, Force, you can't just sell all my things just because you are not Anakin Skywalker and stuff!' Ahsoka complained. ' I think Maz somehow found it for me. That's extremely nice of her!'

' Hey,' Luke suddenly said. ' If you are friends with Maz, do you know how she got Father's lightsaber?'

' Of course! I gave it to her,' Ahsoka beamed.

' WHAT?' Ghost-Anakin shrieked. ' But how?'

' The Daughter,' Ahsoka smiled smugly. ' That's all you need to know.'

* * *

(Alternate Timeline)

Kylo and Luke were training in the dojo. Luke tossed up some training droids (yeah, the war had ended, but it was always a good practice to deflect blaster bolts) at Kylo.

He deflected them with ease, though his hands were itching to stop the bolts with the Force. Seriously. Those blaster bolts were so tiny, he was sure he could stop hundreds of them at the same time. But blast it, he couldn't do anything, because that would make Luke suspicious.

' You know,' Luke said, while watching Kylo single-handedly deflecting the bolts. ' I was wondering if it is possible to stop blaster bolts with the Force.'

 _Duh,_ Kylo wanted to say. _Obviously._

' I tried it the other day,' Luke mused, pacing around. ' It didn't work. But I have a feeling it is going to work, someday. I just need to give it a bit more practice. What say you?'

 _Ugh,_ Kylo wanted to scoff, but he shrugged, ' Sure, maybe.'

' No one has achieved it before,' Luke frowned. ' Not even my father... Wait.' His comlink buzzed. ' Skywalker here. Hello?'

After some curt nods and several exchanges, he said, ' Ben, you are summoned to the Council Chambers.'

* * *

Kylo had a very bad feeling when he was standing before the Council alone. He tried his best not to freak out when he was standing in front of the beard stroking (eh, maybe not) Jedi Masters.

' Padawan Solo, we have a mission for you,' Obi-wan said. ' But first... Do you know about the bounty hunter, Boba Fett?'

' Uh, yeah,' Kylo answered hesitantly. ' What's wrong with him?'

A rather pompous looking Master tutted, ' What's wrong? He's attacking everyone, boy! I thought you are smart enough to notice that.' Kylo hated him instantly.

' Oi!' Anakin said indignantly. ' That's my favourite grandson you are talking to. Cut that out.'

Ahsoka murmured, ' But he's your only grandson.'

Caleb probably scented danger, because he hastily said, ' Okay, guys. Chill. Now... Good, you know who's Boba Fett. As we all know, the very, very important annual address by the great Supreme Chancellor will be held at the Senate chambers two days later. We received intel from our best investigators that Boba Fett might be striking next in this particular occasion to annoy the Jedi. We need tighten the security around the area.'

' So...' Kylo frowned.

' You are assigned to escort the visiting Jedi younglings along with Padawan Ahna,' Caleb said serenely.

' But...' Kylo said. ' That's a pretty dangerous job! Why don't the Masters escort the younglings?'

' Unfortunately, we are all pretty occupied,' Ahsoka said apologetically. ' Master Obi-wan and Master Anakin are stationed near the Chancellor's pod. A Jedi Master will be positioned next to every pod entrance, and Jedi Knights will be patrolling the halls. So the Padawan learners will help us by guarding the Jedi younglings.'

' Fine,' Kylo sighed. ' I'll do it.'

* * *

The atmosphere in the Temple was so tense on the day of the annual address. Kylo was half-sure that someone had just died, judging from the awfully somber expressions of passing Jedi Masters and Knights.

Seriously, he wasn't afraid of that Boba Fett guy. Sure, he had to be a pretty skilled bounty hunter to work for Darth Vader and stuffing his annoying dad into carbonite was one impressive feat. But he was just some non Force sensitive bounty hunter! He couldn't be that powerful, right? At least not for Kylo Ren.

He met up with his fellow Padawan Ahna, who was nervously reading from a datapad, at the hangar. He saw that she kept checking on last-minute schedules and security protocols.

' You seem nervous,' He commented lightly.

' Of course I am!' She cried. ' All of the younglings are depending on us! We can't fail. I'm under so much stress right now. Can you help out by reading all these?' She shoved some boring protocols at him.

' Ew, no thanks,' He wrinkled his nose. ' Seriously! How bad can that Fett dude be? He's just a bounty hunter! Everyone's over-exaggerating about him.'

' No, they're not!' Ahna flapped her arms in panic. ' He's highly dangerous! Do you remember? He managed to assassinate an important Senator, when three skilled Jedi Masters and legions of clone troopers were actually stationed outside her chambers!'

' Bah, obviously caused by a leak in security,' Kylo said airily.

' He hijacked a Republic shuttle before it left Coruscant!'

' Pooh, pooh! Any pilot could intercept a shuttle when it's flying over the planet if they have a working tractor beam!'

Ahna flushed angrily, ' You might sneer, Solo, but he's highly dangerous! We must be extremely cautious to avoid any trouble. Look, Master Dume is coming.'

The Jedi Master was taking a large chattering crowd of Jedi younglings towards them. And little Rey was part of the group.

' Ah, Ahna and Ben!' Caleb said. ' Ready to go?'

' Yeah,' Ahna said, putting away her datapad.

' I trust both of you. Good luck,' Caleb said. ' I must go now. Senator Tanya is expecting me.'

' Yes Master, we _will_ be careful,' Ahna said, eyeing Kylo irritatedly before climbing into the shuttle.

 **Hello! :DDDDDDDDD**

 **SWR Season 3 will be coming soon! Yippee! And Bo-Katan is back! Whoooooo! So excited! XD**

 **And well, school has started again, and I am REALLY busy. X_X There are loads to do and tons of homework. I am so tired, I feel like I have just duelled with Vader, Sidious, Dooku and Grievous all at once! :O**

 **Anyways... Here's the Me and Star Wars section... and here's a bit of background info. I went to this really er, interesting, camp. The instructors are intent on inspiring us with ummmm, REALLY REALLY REALLY inspirational life quotes. So there was this... Uh, nice evening concert held by the instructors, and they kinda made the mistake of giving us glow sticks. XD**

 **Instructors: *singing really inspirational songs and handing out glow sticks***

 **Me: Cool! Glow sticks!**

 **Friend: YAS! Mine is green and purple! Cool!**

 **Me: And mine's red and orange. Know what this means?**

 **Friend: *brandishes glow stick* A DUEL!**

 **Me: I AM DARTH... MARSHMALLOW! DIE, JEDI DOG!**

 **Friend: NO! YOU WILL DIE, SITH SCUM!**

 ***starts hitting each other with glow-sticks and making lightsaber ksshzzzzzzzzttt sounds***

 **Instructor: Ahem. Stop playing with your glow-sticks.**


	18. Chapter 18

(Original Timeline)

It had been a day since Ahsoka returned from Malachor, and Leia announced to the entire base that there would be a surprise First Order raid. The entire base buzzed with enthusiasm after the announcement was made, and Blue and Red squadron pilots were already preparing for the very exciting activity. Poe, being the esteemed Black Leader, had literally disappeared into the hangar to gear up for the raid.

There was much discussion between Luke and Leia, she decided that Ben and Rey were fit for positions in the Black Squadron and would be taking part in the assault, after watching both of them fly around the Base on X-Wings and hitting dummy TIE fighters as a battle simulation.

But she was rather startled when Ahsoka asked Poe (who finally agreed to appear for lunch) and Leia to allow her to take part as well.

' You have just returned!' Leia said, bemused. ' You should take a rest from all the trouble, Ahsoka.'

' I've been trained to fight in wars ever since I turned 12,' She insisted. ' I'm fine with it.'

' Oh, well,' Leia shrugged. ' If Poe is fine with it...'

' Yeah, of course!' Poe brightened up. ' The more the merrier. You're in luck, there's this brand new X-wing. You could be Red Seven.'

After a quick and simple lunch (much to Rey's disappointment, but she couldn't afford barfing up her lunch in the middle of a battle), everyone changed into their bright orange flight suits, and climbed onto their X-wings.

Ben was given an emerald green astromech droid, who kept twittering and beeping in excitement at him. He closed the cockpit canopy, then slid on his headset and helmet, which was a tad bit bulky.

Leia's voice crackled over the intercom, ' Okay. You are all ready to go.'

' Thanks,' Poe said. ' On my mark...'

On his lead, the X-wings soared off into the air one by one.

Once they were shot off into space, Poe said, ' Er, standard procedure, guys! All wings report in, please.'

' Blue One, standing by.'

' Red Four, standing by.'

' Blue Three, standing by.'

' Red Five, standing by,' Ben said.

There was a long stream of people reporting.

' Blue Nine, standing by,' Rey answered.

' Red Seven, standing by,' There was an excited edge to Ahsoka's voice.

' We're good,' Poe said. ' Put in the coordinates General Organa gave us! And let's get moving! After we're done, the First Order will hate us so much. Entering hyperspace, in 3... 2... 1!'

All of the X-wings sped into hyperspace. They were in luck this time, because the actual target was not that far away from their home planet, so it only took them several minutes to travel. If it had been on the other side of the galaxy, Ben would have died of boredom in his ship with no one else to do except for talking to his overly excited and boisterous droid.

' What exactly is the plan?' One of the pilots, Jessika Pava, asked through the intercom.

' No plans!' Poe said with glee. ' Just shoot down the Star Destroyer with everything you've got! This'll be easier than shooting at the Starkiller Base. I bet they don't have so many TIEs or guns on that ship.'

' Oooh,' Another woman said, letting out a 'Sith-worthy' cackle. ' It's one of your favourites then. A Star Destroyer raid. What fun! Here we go!'

They dropped out of hyperspace, and behold... A gigantic, evil looking Star Destroyer was hovering above an unknown planet.

' Good! They aren't expecting us,' Poe said. ' X-wings get into attack position. Let the raid...' He paused dramatically. ' _Begin_!'

Many delighted 'copy that, Black Leader' replies echoed through the intercom, and the X-wings that were supposed to be in an orderly formation broke off, shooting off for the Star Destroyer like greedy children going after the very last piece of birthday cake. Ben was almost left in shock by the others' enthusiasm, but he quickly accelerated his speed to join the others.

Ben guessed that the First Order had already spotted them, because some TIE fighters started to zoom out of the hangar and the guns on the side started to shoot at them. Hey! Of course they should spot a moderately large X-Wing army flying around their ship!

' Yee-haw!' Poe started shooting at an enemy fighter, causing it to crash into another. ' Take that!' He had taken down two TIE fighters without breaking a sweat. ' Guys, let's split up! Blue team, go for the fighters! Red team, go for the actual ship! Aaand... Blue team, once you're done, attack the guns on the ship! That should be real easy.'

' Copy that!'

Ben dived over the Star Destroyer, and Ahsoka joined with him. ' Hey there, Ben,' Ahsoka said.

' Grandfather would love this,' Ben shouted over the noise of his droid's trills, successfully shooting at the side of the ship. He remembered his grandfather's tale of him destroying a Separatist droid factory with R2 at the age of nine.

' Oh, yeah. Let's trying spinning,' Ahsoka said, skilfully blasting at the bridge.

' Spinning?'

' Yeah! He loves fancy flying. He flies as if hell is chasing him! I've learnt it the hard way in my first space battle with him. I was his gunner back then,' Ahsoka said, demonstrating a perfect twirl and dodging dozens of bolts at the same time. And she mimicked his grandfather's voice, ' _Oh yeah, Snips. Sorry for making you so sick! But you gotta admit, spinning is a good trick!'_ Ben bursted out laughing, and he blasted a hole right into the side of the ship.

At that point, many escape pods were launched into space, as the ship was half collapsing.

' Black Leader! We have taken down all the TIEs and guns!' Rey said triumphantly.

' Great! Go for the ship!'

Soon enough, the Star Destroyer was half crashing onto the poor planet below, and the area around them was littered with escape pods (who knew there were so many escape pods in a single ship).

' Do we go for the escape pods?' Ben asked uncertainly. He almost added, _you know, that is not the Jedi way to kill unarmed people._

Fortunately Poe laughed, ' No we don't need to. Let's just have them float around in space and wait for someone to pick them up. Oh, assuming that someone is able to track down their distress signals. Let's go, guys!'

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

The Senate building was also in a state of frenzy. Jedi Masters were running about, checking up any security loopholes. But they tried hard to play down their anxiety in front of the important Senators and just acted like normal, sophisticated peace guardians, because Caleb reckoned that it would give them unnecessary alarm. No one was actually sure whether Boba Fett was going to attack them.

While Kylo was patrolling the corridors with Ahna, he spotted Ahsoka running past them. And she had actually draped a standard Jedi cloak over her preferred 'usual' armour as if to make her outfit seem more appropriate and fit for the occasion. He guessed Anakin had sweet talked her into wearing the cloak, because he knew Ahsoka hated cloaks and traditional robes. The Jedi Master seemed to be in such a hurry, and she was simply a bright orange and burgundy blur.

After checking the corridors for twenty times (yes, twenty times), Ahna decided that it was safe. Ben had to escort the younglings over to the giant pod, where they would observe the entire Senate session.

Standing over the pod, he couldn't help but wearily wonder whether the entire thing was a false alarm. He would get extremely pissed if that was the case, because he was seriously getting a headache from Ahna's chiding. She almost reminded him of Hux.

About ten minutes before the session began, Ahna insisted that they patrol the corridors for one last time.

' Oh, for Force's sake!' Kylo cried, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. ' You're being ridiculous! There is no way anyone can get into the Senate chambers with at least a hundred Jedi patrolling the corridors and exits! Not even my grandfather could do that! So why are you people even afraid of that bounty hunter guy?'

But Ahna insisted on going, so Kylo relented. They managed to return to their designated location before Mon Mothma's speech started.

And well, as he had expected, Mon Mothma's speech was all about the boring stuff he strongly disliked. So instead of paying attention to the speech, his eyes drifted off to observe the Senate chamber.

Stationed on every Senatorial pod, was a gloomy looking Jedi Master. He spotted Caleb and Ezra respectively, both looking rather tense. Kylo was almost sure the smallest noises would make them jump up in alarm and ignite their lightsabers to incinerate anything in their vicinity. And as expected, Ahsoka was standing with Padme.

Also, if he strained his eyes, he could spot Anakin and Obi-wan standing near the Supreme Chancellor's pod. Obi-wan looked nervous, whereas Anakin was rather nonchalant.

When Chancellor Mothma was talking about the new budget plan for the Senate, alarms over them blared, and Kylo was almost certain he could hear explosions. All of the Jedi stood up swiftly, and proceeded to escort the panicking Senators out of the area.

' I told you so! I knew there is going to be an attack!' Ahna hissed, ushering the terrified younglings out of the Chamber.

' Fine, you win!' Kylo gritted his teeth, pushing Rey and another Togrutan youngling out. ' We have to get out of here soon. I can actually sense danger through the Force.'

' I agree.'

The entire building rumbled.

' Quick, quick, quick!' Ahna muttered.

' I am running!' Kylo said angrily.

' I am talking to myself!'

Kylo's back tingled uncomfortably, and his natural instincts and training kicked in just in time for him to deflect some shots that were fired at his back.

' Blast!' Ahna cursed. ' They didn't check the heating vents, did they? Fett must be ambushing us through the vents! And he's not alone! His goons are helping him as well!' That explained why the blaster bolts were shooting out in all directions.

Under normal circumstances, Kylo had no trouble in deflecting rapid blaster bolts with his lightsaber but he didn't have about forty younglings to look after at the same time. He had to be extra careful not to accidentally deflect the bolts onto the younglings, and it was pretty hard, since the corridor was cramped.

Ugh! If only he could just stretch out and use the Force... That would make things extra easy.

' We'll accidentally hit the younglings!' Ahna cried, trying to shield the cowering younglings.

' I know I know!' Kylo growled. ' Go!'

' Pardon me?' Ahna yelled over the noises of swinging lightsabers and blaster bolts hitting the fancy walls.

' Take the younglings and go! Call for help! I will keep the bounty hunters at bay and I'll try to catch up,' Kylo said.

' What-'

' Just RUN!' He snapped.

Ahna started pushing at the younglings, ' Okay, we really, really have to run.'

Kylo backed away calmly, while his arm was moving like a windmill to deflect the bolts.

There was a cry of pain, and alarmed, Kylo looked back. Apparently a stray blaster bolt had slid past him and grazed Rey's arm.

That made Kylo really, really mad. No one hurt Rey. He literally cracked under all the anger, and he made a choice. He was going to end all of this madness. With well practiced ease, he held out his hand, unleashing his fury into the Force, transforming it into pure Dark power.

All of the bolts froze in midair, still crackling and burning. There were yells of surprise, and smoking blasters flew into his other hand. He crushed them ruthlessly.

With a satisfied grunt, he released his hold in the Force, letting go of the dark tornado building up in his mind, and let the blaster bolts fly into the wall. The fancy wallpaper was peppered with holes, and he didn't care. The Senate could buy new ones.

' Ben...?'

He cursed mentally in Huttese and turned around. Ahna was staring through him as if he didn't exist. The rest of the younglings were deathly pale in terror. And worst of all, Caleb, Luke and Obi-wan were standing behind the small crowd, looking at him in utmost shock.

Splendid.

* * *

' Let me get this straight. You said you saw my favourite grandson controlling blaster bolts with the Force?' Anakin shaking his head with disbelief. ' That's impossible, bro.'

' I saw it, Anakin, with my very own eyes,' Obi-wan said, looking rather ill at ease.

The Council was in a state of distress. First, half of the Senate building was ruined due to explosions from extra powerful thermal detonators and blaster bolts and some important Senators were actually injured. The Holonet reporters were having a field day, bombarding the Jedi Order with requests for interviews and asking them about the loopholes in their supposedly 'flawless' security plan. Then, they realised that one of their best Padawans had actually used the Dark Side of the Force and unleashed... Unlimited power.

' That's my son you are talking about,' Leia argued.

' I refuse to believe it,' Anakin crossed his arms stubbornly.

' Masters, Ben can't be going Dark,' Luke protested weakly.

' Master Solo, it's possible that your son is turning to the Dark Side,' Shaak Ti said.

' He's my son!' Leia said indignantly. ' I should know what he is up to.'

Obi-wan sighed and held out a holoprojector, ' I hate to do this, but... Look at the security holograms from the Senate building.' Everyone watched in silence as the holo 'Ben Solo' stopped the blaster bolts in midair using the Force.

Luke seemed upset, ' But... Masters... It can't be! This is no Dark Side technique. We... We discussed about it before, and Ben doesn't seem to-'

' I wish it isn't true, Luke,' Caleb said heavily. ' But I can sense Darkness coming from Ben. Let it be a Dark Side technique or not, Ben definitely used the Dark Side to perform it. You sensed it too, didn't you?'

Ahsoka frowned, ' But... Guys... This is Ben we are talking about. There is no way he can suddenly go Dark under the watchful eyes of his parents and Luke! I think things are not as simple as we think. Padawan Ahna was one of the witnesses, and she said Ben was just trying to protect the younglings.' Leia breathed in relief. All the other Masters were less forgiving, well, her father was going berserk, but at least Luke and Ahsoka was on her side.

' What do you suggest, Master Tano?' Luminara Unduli, who was seemingly calm, asked.

' I say we talk to Ben,' Ahsoka said. ' We might find out what's wrong.'

Obi-wan nodded, ' Great idea, Ahsoka-'

' I shall talk to my grandson!' Anakin interrupted.

' No, you won't,' Obi-wan said irritatedly. ' You are the boy's grandfather. You might go easy on him.'

' Go easy? What do you mean?' Anakin said, aghast. ' It's not an interrogation, is it? Oho, Ben might be a secret Sith Lord, but I won't be letting you interrogate my grandson!'

' No... It's not an interrogation! I'm sorry about it, but I must say that your emotional ties to Ben might cloud your judgement,' Obi-wan dipped his head apologetically.

' Oh no!' Anakin grew angry. ' Not the attachment kri-'

' Language, Master Skywalker!' Aayla reminded sharply.

Caleb said, ' Okay. What about me? I could talk to Ben. Because you know, I won't get attached and I'm generally, er, kinder.'

' Yeah, Caleb will do,' Leia coaxed her father.

' Fine,' Anakin said grudgingly.

* * *

Kylo was never under the impression that the Jedi would punish someone for over-achieving.

After the Senate Boba Fett fiasco, Obi-wan quickly extracted him from the mess, and locked him up in an empty room (Kylo called it the 'detention block') in the Temple, while he joined up with the rest of the Council to discuss about what he had just done using the Force.

Great! His cover would be blown and they would finally know how twisted, powerful and dark he actually was. But at least he saved little Rey. That made him feel a lot less guilty.

It was starting to get dark, so he leaned against a bed, and hugged his knees to his chest. What would the Jedi do to him? Execute him like how they almost did to Ahsoka? Send him on trial? Cast him out onto the streets?

Finally, he was about to doze off when the locked door slid open to reveal Caleb.

' Let's talk, shall we?' The Jedi Master said.

 **Wow, it had been a busy week! :/**

 **SEASON 3 IS COMING OUT! YESSSSSS! XD**


	19. Chapter 19

(Original Timeline)

Dinnertime was over by the time the pilots returned to the base. Leia had asked the kitchens to save up some leftover pasta and delivered the food to respective pilots' quarters. For the Jedi, their meal was delivered to Kanan's quarters, which was slightly larger than most of the others' quarters, so they could all eat together, like a family.

Unfortunately, Luke whisked Rey off for a top secret Jedi training course before she could even change out of her orange flightsuit, so she couldn't join them for dinner. Ezra stuck her portion of food into the fridge so she could have it later.

For most of the time, they ate in silence and there was no noise except for the clanking of silverware against bowls.

Ahsoka scraped her bowl clean with her spoon, ' This is one of the best pastas I've ever eaten, but nothing will ever tarnish the memory of Anakin's homemade pasta.'

' Oh yeah,' Ben said with a big smile, reminiscing his grandfather's horrendous cooking.

' You guys keep talking about how bad Anakin's cooking was,' Ezra commented. ' But seriously, how bad can it be?'

' Really bad,' Ahsoka said. ' Imagine... Cheese macaroni that is extremely salty and tangy.'

' Ugh, no thanks,' Kanan gagged.

' His homemade meatballs are the all-time worst,' Ben grinned.

' Speaking of cooking, I totally miss my wife's cooking,' Kanan said, picking at his plate.

' Oh, wow. You have a wife?' Ben said, and he almost felt stupid after saying it. Of course Master Caleb had a wife! Hera Syndulla, the daughter of the renowned Twi'lek leader, Cham Syndulla. They had known each other for a long, long time from a mission and they eventually got married. Master Caleb used to claim to anyone who would listen that he and Hera's love story was one of the best love stories in the galaxy.

' Yes I do! Hera Syndulla!' Kanan said lovingly.

' Right, Hera! Where is she now?' Ben asked.

Kanan smiled wider, ' I assume that my younger self is married to Hera as well in your world! Hera's doing fine, she works as a technician in the base, but sometimes she flies in battles. Does Sabine, Zeb and Chopper exist in your world too?'

' Oh yeah.' Ben couldn't stop smiling at the thought of the Ghost Crew. They were the best buddies of Hera, and would often go on adventures around the galaxy during holidays. But his smile faltered when Ahsoka jumped, her spoon clattering to the floor.

Kanan pressed on anxiously, ' Ahsoka, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?'

' There's a great disturbance in the Force,' She kneaded her forehead.

Kanan, Ezra and Ben stared at each other worriedly. ' Ahsoka... I can't feel anything,' Ezra confessed.

' Really?' Ahsoka frowned, and she sat still. ' There's it again.'

' But how?' Ben said, straining his mind to sense the 'disturbance' in the Force, but all he could get was Luke's faint Force signature from the distance. And if he concentrated a little bit harder, he could even sense the waves of fatigue coming from Rey.

Ezra was going slightly purple in the face as he tried to reach out in the Force. ' Nothing,' He gasped out.

' No way,' Ahsoka scrunched up her face in deep concentration. ' There it goes again. It's almost like... A warning of some sort.'

' Could it be because of your connection with the Daughter?' Kanan suggested. ' You know, she might have given you a heightened Force sensing abilities, or maybe... It's a message, coming from her.'

' Could be. Wait. It's clearer now. It's...' She murmured.

' What is it?' Ezra pressed on.

' A Force Bond,' Ahsoka blinked. ' Between someone.'

' Anakin's?' Kanan asked. ' No way. He's coming back alive?'

' Can't be Anakin's,' She said. ' It was broken ages ago. Let me try to use the Bond. But you guys will have to lend me your powers.'

' Er, like this?' Ezra cautiously placed his hand on Ahsoka's arm.

' Yep. Channel your Force energy to me, but don't stress about it, or else you will exhaust yourself.'

Ben placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder, and Kanan did the same.

' What do you see now?' Ben asked.

' I see... Someone. A man, in fact... Wait,' Her eyes snapped open. ' It's Kanan!'

' What? Me?' Kanan said, astonished. ' You see me?'

' Ah!' Ezra said knowingly. ' The Daughter! Heck, she's connecting your consciousness to the other world... Ben's timeline! This is young Caleb! Can you talk to him?'

' I'll try,' Ahsoka bit her lip, and she channeled her thoughts into the new bond.

 _Caleb?_

* * *

(Altered Timeline)

' What is there to talk about?' Kylo said coolly.

' Lots!' Caleb said miserably. ' Ben, we are all worried about you. Do you realise what you have done just now? You used the Dark Side!' Caleb noted that Kylo did a very un-Ben-like eye roll. It always almost like he didn't care.

' So?'

' Ben! This is serious,' Caleb exclaimed. ' What happened? Because the Ben Solo we know would never do anything like this.'

Kylo laughed, and Caleb just stared at him, lost for words.

' Oh well. Because I'm not Ben Solo,' Kylo said with a ghost of a smile.

' Pardon me?' Caleb raised an eyebrow.

Kylo gave him a maniacal, Kylo Ren grin, ' I am not Ben Solo.'

Caleb continued to stare at him, ' If... You are not Ben... Who are you?'

' I'm Kylo Ren, nice to meet you,' Kylo introduced himself. His true self.

Poor Caleb gave a little shriek of surprise, ' What?!'

' You are looking at me as if I have lost my mind,' Kylo said serenely, dropping his polite Ben Solo facade. ' And I tell you, I am telling the truth.'

' Er,' Caleb seemed green. ' Ben, you must be tired-'

' No.'

' You should go lie down-'

' I told you, I'm serious.'

Caleb stood up abruptly, ' Ben. Let's continue the talk tomorrow. I think... You are too tired.' He quickly dashed out and locked the door again.

Kylo let out a snort. The man thought that he was losing his mentality due to fatigue.

So what now?

He wondered what he would say to Caleb when he came back. Something like, _yeah, I used to be the evil version of Ben Solo, but I am thinking of renouncing the Dark Side after talking to the younger version of the girl I tried to kill earlier, who's supposed to be my sister._

* * *

Caleb entered his room, his heart still pounding at what had just happened.

He imagined himself telling the Council that Ben Solo had apparently cracked under all the pressure of preparing for his Knight Trials and appeared to have lost his mind.

He collapsed onto the small mound of cushions in his living quarters. Right. He would meditate to clear his mind and figure out what to do next with Ben.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the more peaceful side of the Force, immersing himself in the quietness...

' _Caleb?'_

He opened his eyes and asked, ' Who's there?'

To his bewilderment, muffled yells of delight and excitement echoed around the room.

' I'm asking, who's there?' Caleb repeated weakly. It had better not be a vent prank. He had pranked a lot of Jedi Masters by climbing into the heating vents in his youth, but he was not exactly keen to be pranked by some random youngling.

 _' It's me, Ahsoka.'_

Ahsoka?! Caleb said, ' Wait. Shouldn't you be off to Padme's with Anakin? And... Holy Force, I was never under the impression that there is a Force bond between us. How did that happen?'

' _I have feeling that it is a temporary Force bond.'_

 _'_ Temporary Force bond? Who put it there?' Caleb mused.

 _' And technically, I'm not the Ahsoka you know. At least I don't belong here.'_

' What? What do you mean?' He asked anxiously.

' _I am Fulcrum.'_

He froze. It was as if the wind was knocked out of him. He certainly didn't expect this.

' You're... Fulcrum. Does that mean...' He said in a hushed whisper. ' The Daughter...?'

' _Yes, Caleb. It seems like we are talking to each other again despite the gaps between our timelines.'_

Caleb grew more and more excited, ' That means... It's... Mr. Ghost-Anakin! Older-me!' Oh, he had wished to see them all again. But he was getting more and more hopeless as the years drew by.

' _Yep. And speaking of Older-me... Someone would like to speak to you.'_

Ahsoka's voice switched to a much deeper voice, ' _Er... Does this work? Oh, yes. Hello?'_

That was definitely Kanan Jarrus.

' OLDER-ME!' Caleb clapped.

' _Hello Caleb.'_

 _' Hello,_ er, _Caleb.'_

' Ezra! Is that you? Well, I would say I am glad to hear your voice if it isn't for the fact that I hear your voice everyday,' Caleb said excitedly.

' _Ezra's your Padawan in your world too?'_ Kanan's voice sounded amused.

' Yes. I was about to give up hope, but then Ezra's parents sent him to the Temple. I made a request to train him,' Caleb said proudly.

Ahsoka's matronly voice replaced Kanan's. ' _Great. Okay, back to business. The Daughter didn't create a temporary Force bond between us just to catch up with each other. What happened here?'_

' Everything happened!' Caleb said grimly.

' _Spill,_ 'Ahsoka commanded.

He found himself telling them everything about the Boba Fett Senate fiasco and the strange Dark behaviours of Ben Solo. ' It's very messed up!' He said. ' Think about that. The son of Han and Leia going Dark! How preposterous!'

' _Well...'_ Ahsoka said slowly. ' _That's because he's not Ben Solo.'_

' Come again,' Caleb sighed dejectedly. ' That was what the boy said.'

' _Oh?'_ Ezra said interestedly. ' _Really, he did? That's what we didn't expect.'_

' How in the name of the Force is he not Ben Solo?' Caleb complained. ' He's going mad from all the pressure, I tell you.'

' _That is not Ben Solo. Ben Solo is here,'_ Ahsoka confessed. ' _Go on, Ben. Say something.'_

There was a small, cautious 'hello' in the background.

' _Speak up, boy!'_ Ezra shouted.

' _Hello, Master Caleb.'_

Caleb froze. That sounded like Ben, alright.

' Ben?'

' _This is the real Ben Solo. He's with us. However, the Ben Solo in your world is not Ben Solo. He belongs to our time.'_

' Let me guess,' Caleb groaned. ' The Son?'

' _Correct. He switched our own Kylo with Ben for fun,'_ Ahsoka explained. ' _So technically they are stuck in each other's bodies.'_

' Kylo? There goes the name again! Who's Kylo Ren?' He asked.

' _Ahhh... Long story short, Leia and Han's son over here turned Dark, joined a new, not so good "Empire", killed Luke's brand new Jedi Order and worships Darth Vader. He calls himself Kylo Ren,'_ Ezra said.

' Oh, my,' Caleb placed a hand over his mouth in shock. ' Is he a Sith?'

' Not exactly. _I'd say Sith-in-training,'_ Ahsoka corrected.

' That's why he uses the Dark Side!' Caleb said in horror. ' All the anger and hate! How did that happen though?'

' _He was influenced by this evil new guy called Supreme Leader Snoke. Frankly, it's a miracle how Kylo managed to stay in the Jedi Order for so long without being noticed. I was told he has temper problems,'_ Kanan stated.

' Great. Who else did he kill?'

' _Er, loads of people? He went as far as killing Han,'_ Ezra provided.

' No way!' Caleb gasped.

' _It's true.'_

' Now, the major problem is how are we going to switch them back?' Caleb asked anxiously. ' Will Ben be stuck with you guys forever?'

' _I hope not. I think Ahsoka is trying to switch us back using the power of the Daughter. She's trying to find the Son,'_ The real Ben said.

' _You had better talk to Kylo too. Tell him that you know about us and this other timeline. Try to gain his trust,'_ Ahsoka advised. ' _Meanwhile, you should tell Anakin too.'_

' What about the other Jedi?'

' _You can tell Obi-wan too,'_ Ahsoka decided. ' _Maybe my counterpart and Ezra too. They deserve to know. Let's just disconnect our Force bond for now. Do keep me updated on what's happening over here.'_

 _'_ You too,' Caleb said. And their Force bond disconnected with a small click.

He heaved a sigh and dialed a series of numbers into his com.

' Hello? Skywalker here.'

' Anakin? It's Caleb. Er... We have a issue over here.'

' What's wrong?' Anakin said, alarmed. ' Did something happen to my grandson?'

' Technically, yes. Come to my quarters at 8. Bring Ahsoka and Obi-wan with you too.'

 **... Still waiting for Saturday.**


	20. Chapter 20

**This chapter will be special, because the entire chapter will be in the Altered Timeline. Sorry about Caleb's very confusing speech lol. XD And I am not that good at writing angst lol, so if something sounds unconvincing or weird, please don't hesitate to tell me :D Thanks!**

Around an hour later, Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-wan showed up outside Caleb's quarters.

' Perfect timing! Hello, hello, my friends!' Caleb grinned from ear to ear, slowly strolling towards them. Ezra walked behind his former Master, looking rather confused. Caleb had just showed up out of the blue and extracted him from his archive duties.

Anakin crossed his arms grouchily, ' Right. I was going to have dinner with my wife when you called me back. It had better be good, bro.'

' Oh, very good,' Caleb walked over to Anakin and threw his arm around his shoulder. ' I need to talk to you for a second. Will be back soon!' He dragged the startled Jedi Master over to the side.

' Okay, listen, I just received a message from Ahsoka,' He said seriously.

' What?' Anakin said incredulously. ' Ahsoka was with me the entire time! She didn't call you.'

' No, not _our_ Ahsoka,' He looked over his shoulder (Ezra, Obi-wan and Ahsoka were throwing each other puzzled looks). ' The _Fulcrum_ Ahsoka.'

' The Fulcrum... Wha-?' Anakin paused abruptly and stared at Caleb with an open jaw.

' Yep. It's very complicated... But I believe that I have connected to the other timeline again, my friend,' Caleb said proudly.

Anakin groaned, ' How?'

Caleb tapped at the side of his forehead, ' A temporary Force bond between Ahsoka and I.'

' That doesn't make any sense! Why would there be a Force bond between you and Ahsoka? You're not even her Master,' Anakin snapped. ' A bond between me and Ahsoka will make more sense.'

' You want proof?' Caleb sighed, and he accessed their temporary bond. ' _Yoohoo, Ahsoka. I need you over here.'_

 _' Caleb. Did something happen to Kylo? Oh, don't tell me Anakin got himself stuck in sand again.'_

 _' No. Your stubborn, stubborn Master over here wants proof. Is it possible to use your wonderful Daughter magic to speak to him? Maybe grow another temporary Force bond on him?'_

There was an awkward pause. ' _Er. Technically... It's possible.'_

 _' If it is, do it. Use whatever Malachor magic you have.'_

 _' It's going to hurt, just a little bit. I'm going to split the Force bond into two then.'_

There was this searing hot pain in him, as if someone had stuck a burning hot toaster inside his head. While he savoured the thought of having toast, he pictured the bond gradually splitting into two strands, one strand connecting to Anakin's consciousness.

He thought Anakin must have noticed something poking at his Force presence, because he jolted in alarm. ' What was that?'

' The proof you want,' Caleb said. ' Test out this new Force bond in your head. Say hello or something.'

* * *

(In Anakin's head)

Anakin eyed Caleb suspiciously, and let out a small tentative hello through that strange new bond.

' _Well well well. If it isn't my stubborn, stubborn Master.'_

' Snips?!' He said out loud. He was almost sure the real Ahsoka over there could hear him.

' _Ow my montrals! Seriously! Do you have to be so loud?'_ Ahsoka was definitely screaming at him. ' _I'll vent out my anger with you by trying to kill your other ghostly self if you damage my hearing!'_

' _Sorry, Snips! Wow. That's you? All the way from the other timeline? Boy you sure sound younger.'_

 _' Really?'_ The other Ahsoka seemed amused. ' _It's a long story, really. Is Obi-wan, Ezra and my other self with you?'_

 _' Yeah. You want to let them into the entire thing? What's going on anyways?'_

 _' Sure why not? I gotta go. Leia needs me in a briefing . Listen to whatever Caleb tells you, okay?'_ And she was gone.

' Well, I hope the proof was convincing enough,' Caleb rolled his eyes. ' Let's get back, shall we?'

* * *

Everyone was seated in Caleb's quarters.

' I still don't get what's going on,' Ahsoka said.

' Me neither,' Ezra said, still rather unhappy about being dragged away from duty (he really did enjoy archive duty).

Caleb clasped his hands together, ' So. There's something I need to tell you. But before that... There's also something else I really, really need to tell you.'

' Uh, that's plain confusing, Master,' Ezra sighed. ' Just say whatever you have to say.'

' Okay. There goes nothing,' Caleb closed his eyes. ' Okay I am not sure if you all remember this but I think your memory was wiped we were once visited by Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka oh by Kanan I mean he's my other counterpart from an evil world and one day thanks to the Daughter of Mortis they were brought back to this time to take a break from the future terrors of an evil Galactic Empire brought to you by the glorious Emperor Palpatine and after their trip the Daughter wiped all of your memories just so there wouldn't be time complications but one day the Son of Mortis decided to send some of your people to Kanan's place and yeah you guessed it Anakin and I were the lucky ones we had a wonderful time there, knew about the Galactic Empire and came back here to save the day! That's why we are all safe.' He blurted that all at once.

Anakin resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. Of course the explanation job should not be given to Caleb.

' Excuse me, what was all that?' Obi-wan obviously didn't catch all of it.

' I caught some of it,' Ezra said. ' Who's Kanan? Why don't I remember being with that guy?'

' It's me, I told you-'

' I think I should rephrase all of that,' Anakin groaned.

' Be my guest,' Ahsoka said. ' I don't understand.'

Anakin took a deep breath and started to explain to them, trying hard not to make anything sound confusing or unclear. It was hard. Caleb watched as Obi-wan, Ezra and Ahsoka's faces turned from incomprehension, confusion, shock to anger when Anakin described the messed up world of dead Jedi and the long reign of Emperor Palpatine.

At the end of it, Obi-wan, who seemed to have aged ten years after the tale, said to Caleb, ' So. The falsetto recording. It was you all along?'

' Yep,' Caleb said with pride. ' Gotta love my handy voice scrambler. Only cost me 20 credits.'

' And that was where you got all those... Chips and stuff!' Ahsoka whispered. ' I should have known all along!'

' This is all very confusing,' Ezra laughed nervously. ' But it's somewhat nice to know that I'm still your apprentice in the other timeline. I wish I knew more about this... Kanan though.'

' Oh he's not like Caleb. Kanan Jarrus is a quiet and calm Jedi,' Anakin said.

They were taking it well, Caleb guessed. After all, the Jedi were kind of used to bizarre events. After discovering the Chosen One, knowing about the existence of the planet Mortis, accidentally realising that their thought-to-be ally (*cough* Palps *cough*) was an evil, plotting Sith Lord all along and old Jedi walking around the Temple as bluish Force ghosts, nothing could surprise the Jedi anymore. Not even if Master Windu suddenly decided that he allowed Caleb to keep his pet rancor in the training grounds.

' Now that you have mentioned it,' Obi-wan added. ' I feel like... I know of the time travelling events... Maybe my locked memories are coming back at last. So what else? The... er... Something?'

' Ah yes. The story doesn't end at the Battle of Endor of course,' Caleb said dramatically. ' Leia and Han also had a son named Ben Solo. But he was swayed by the Dark Side and eventually slaughtered Luke's entire Order. He took on the name Kylo Ren ever since.'

' What?!' Anakin said. ' You don't mean...'

' Yes. Thanks to the Son, our very own Ben is stuck in the other timeline, while Kylo Ren is with us.'

' You mean to say... A Jedi killer has been living with us for the past month?' Ezra seemed horrified. ' Shouldn't we notify the Jedi Council and er, stuff him in the detention block for further observation?'

' No, not yet,' Ahsoka said. ' We really have to talk to him. If he's as evil as this other me thinks, why hasn't he done anything to us yet? It is a perfect opportunity to wreck havoc and destroy the Jedi.'

' I agree,' Caleb nodded. ' It's getting late. I think we should go and talk to him tomorrow.'

' Ah, by the way, did Ahsoka mention my favourite granddaughter?' Anakin asked.

' Er, no, I don't think she did,' Caleb said.

' Maybe Rey doesn't exist in their timeline?' Ezra suggested. ' You could ask Ahsoka later. Anyways, if you don't mind, I'll be going back to sort the holodisks. Ill have to give some Padawans a piece of my mind for messing up the order of those disks.'

One by one, the Jedi started to leave Caleb's quarters. Only Obi-wan stayed long enough to say to Anakin, ' I'm glad you've been able to come clean to me, Anakin. But I must say I'm rather disappointed with your keeping this from us.'

' Not my fault!' Anakin interjected loudly.

The corners of the Master's mouth twitched slightly, and he left the room.

* * *

Kylo was rather unimpressed at the sight of many Jedi sitting in front of him. He had a reasonably relaxing night yesterday, and spent most of the time staring outside the window after the small meal a Jedi Knight had brought him. He was fascinated by the twinkling lights and transportation of Coruscant.

' So who talks first?' He said (completely not sorry for plagiarising Poe's trademark quote). ' You talk first I talk first?'

' I shall talk first, _Kylo Ren,_ ' Caleb made a face and coughed.

' Ah,' Kylo sat back, pleased. ' So you have accepted the truth?'

' I have accepted that you were once a Jedi named Ben Solo, but turned to the Dark and became a... Let's see... a Knight of Ren!' Caleb said triumphantly.

Kylo said in disbelief, ' How did you know?'

' A little friend inside my head,' He said, tapping his head.

Kylo sighed, running a hand through his messy hair, ' You're delusional. What else now?'

' We'd like to know why you turned to the Dark Side,' Obi-wan said.

The boy stilled. He wasn't expecting this question.

' I wanted to,' He said stubbornly.

' Oh, then there must be a reason behind it,' Ahsoka seemed unfazed.

He sagged into his chair, ' I grew up being a lonely kid. My parents never cared about me. I had always been the oddball in the Order. But Snoke knew. He actually sympathised me. He offered me more power than I could possibly imagine and a chance to get revenge on those who mistreated me , so I... accepted.'

' So it was because you want revenge?' Anakin asked.

' Partially, I guess...' Kylo shrugged. ' I was young and reckless. And I wanted to be more powerful than my Uncle and any Jedi in the Order.'

' What do you think about the Dark Side now?' Ahsoka asked gently. ' You've seen all about the Light Side here and your parents. I'm very sure that they can't be any different in that other time of yours.'

' I... Don't know,' He said helplessly. ' I talked to Rey about it... She actually convinced me. I came to realise how wrong my choices were. But it's too late for me. I have killed many people and committed so many crimes against the Resistance.'

' It's never too late,' Caleb said.

Kylo laughed harshly, ' I killed all of my Uncle's students, joined his greatest nemesis, killed my own father and tried to kill my own sister. How in the name of the Force is it not too late?'

Anakin lost it, ' YOU TRIED KILLING YOUR OWN SISTER?'

' Long story. I didn't even know I had a sister back then,' He confessed, wringing his hands.

' Wait. Forgive me for being dense ora anything but aren't you two supposed to grow up together? You are older than Rey by 10 years, so theoretically, using the Dark Side or not, you should still be around when Rey was born,' Caleb held up a hand to stop him. ' I seriously don't understand.'

' Uhhh, the weird thing is I have absolutely no knowledge of Rey being my sister until I came here. In my timeline, she was raised on the planet Jakku as a young scavenger. And I first met her when she was on the run from the First Order for helping a traitorous Stormtrooper,' Kylo shook his head in puzzlement.

' But-'

' I grew up as an only child,' Kylo added wearily.

' Oh,' Caleb frowned. ' Now _that's_ complicated.'

' We will sort that out soon,' Obi-wan said impatiently. ' First... We must decide on what to do with you. We have to send you back home and get our own Ben back.'

Kylo bowed his head, ' But I can't go back to the First Order. I'd rather die than to stay there any longer. But the Resistance will definitely not take me back. They have a death warrant for me.'

' You don't necessarily have to join a side, remember?' Ahsoka suggested. ' Go into exile. Change your name and live a happy, free life in a new system. The Force will guide you.'

' And we'll help you, of course,' Caleb said. ' The _other_ Ahsoka is working on it.'

For once, Kylo was grateful, ' Thank you.'

' You're welcome, Kylo,' Ahsoka replied.

' One more thing.'

' What?'

' Kylo Ren is no more. I am Ben Solo.'

' Sure, Ben Solo,' Ahsoka smiled kindly.

 **Sorry for taking so long to update! :( It's been a crazy week and a lot of stuff happened. My teammate and I got into a childish fight lol, so basically both of us are kinda mad at each other. And yeah.**

 **Me: I shouldn't stay angry for too long. Anger is not the Jedi way.**

 **The Star Wars part of my brain: Your anger gives you strength. Gives you focus.**

 **Me: No, but-**

 **The Star Wars part of my brain: *Palpatine voice* Yessssss embrace your anger... I can feel your angerrrrrr... Let the hate flow through youuuu**

 **Me: Wait-**

 **The Star Wars part of my brain: UNLIMITED POWERRRRRRRRR!**

* * *

 **Yeah, depressing much. On the bright side... The Ahsoka book is coming out soon! Since I'm too excited about it, here's a bonus Me and Star Wars.**

 **Friend: Ugh. I'm totally dreading the 11th of October. There's this test on that day, and I am not prepared for it.**

 **Me: I disagree! The 11th October is a beacon of hope.**

 **Friend: Excuse me?**

 **Me: Yeah. Beautiful day. I'm looking forward to it.**

 **Friend: Is... Something going to happen on that day? I am 99.9% sure your birthday is not on the 11th October.**

 **Me: No. I'm waiting for something. Something BIG! I've been waiting for nearly half a year already.**

 **Friend: Okay? What is it then?**

 **Me: The...**

 **Friend: *stop the suspense***

 **Me: AHSOKA BOOK IS GOING TO COME OUT ON THE 11TH OF OCTOBER! YIPPEE!**

 **Friend: ...**

 **Yeah! I'm too excited right now! :DDDDDDDDDDD**

 **And finally (the AN is getting too long winded)... For the latest SWR episode! I think the new Fulcrum agent is Kallus! Who's with me? ;)**


	21. Chapter 21

(Original Timeline)

' You look terrible,' Luke commented lightly, when Ahsoka showed up at his quarters with Ben.

' Of course, I look terrible,' Ahsoka mumbled sleepily. ' I was up all night, much thanks to your other father for bothering me to death.' Ben eyed her sympathetically. Apparently, after his grandfather realised that a new Force connection was set up between him and Ahsoka, he started talking to her ceaselessly through the bond. As far as he knew, Ahsoka patiently put up with him all night despite being extremely tired.

' Shall I fetch you some caff from the mess?' Ben asked.

' That'd be lovely. Thank you,' Ahsoka smiled tiredly, and Ben rushed out of the room.

' So what exactly made you that tired?' Luke gestured to her.

Ahsoka sighed, ' Long story.' She began to tell him about the mess Kylo had made in the other timeline and the new bonds she had between Caleb and the other Anakin.

' Phew,' Luke said after her tale. ' Frankly, I'm relieved that Kylo didn't destroy the other timeline.'

' No of course he wouldn't,' Ben said, walking back into the room. He handed Ahsoka a steaming mug of caff. ' He is thinking of returning to the Light, isn't he?'

' Yes, but the problem is he knows that the Resistance will never forgive him for his crimes,' Ahsoka reminded him.

Luke said, ' Well, I will forgive him no matter what. I'll gladly take him back with open arms. He might be a nuisance, but he is always my Padawan.' Ben got a little teary-eyed. He was very sure that he wouldn't be as forgiving as Luke if someone had blatantly destroyed something he had been working hard on for the last couple decades.

Ghost-Anakin popped up behind him, ' That's touching, Lukey.'

' You're ruining the moment!' Ahsoka hissed. She was kind of touched too.

Ghost-Anakin threw up his hands, ' Okay, okay, my bad.' And he disappeared.

' Anyways,' Ahsoka put down her caff and smirked at Ben. ' So. Your sister.'

' Ahsoka,' Luke said sharply, as if warning her not to bring up the matter.

' Hey, I knew,' She said. ' I'm not as ignorant as you think. I have my news holos delivered to me everyday on Malachor.'

Luke and Ben stared blankly at her.

' Oh, I'm just pulling your leg. Okay, I sensed it right when you stepped on my planet! Ya know, Malachor magic and its disgustingly stifling fumes work wonders on honing your Force sensing skills,' Ahsoka said. ' Now, spill.'

' Spill what?' Luke blinked.

' Everything about Rey. What happened? I didn't know Leia and Han had another child. Did this happen while I was away?' She added after a short pause. ' Oh, silly me. _Of course_ it happened while I was away.

Luke frowned, ' I had better not tell you.'

' Please. I want to know too,' Ben pleaded. Frankly, he was dying to know too. He had been wondering about this ever since he arrived in the Resistance base. He had no idea how Leia wouldn't recognise her own daughter or how Rey ended up on that foul sand planet. And... Kylo Ren should have known that he had a sister. Why hadn't the First Order made any attempt to kidnap her right off Jakku and corrupt her using the Dark Side?

' Fine. I'll tell you. When Leia was pregnant with Rey again, an enigmatic Dark Side user named Snoke was rapidly gaining power and new Dark Side followers. He had been a thorn in our side for who knows how long. He was waiting to corrupt our young Jedi and make them his apprentices,' Luke said. ' We guessed that Snoke was already chasing after Kylo, that was why we did everything to protect him. Look at how it worked out.' He laughed bitterly.

' So... If Snoke knows about Rey...' Ben said slowly. ' He would definitely go after her! Since children are easier to corrupt, aren't they?'

' Yeah. Same old technique,' Ahsoka sounded bored. ' Palps abducted young children to become Sith back in the Clone Wars. It didn't work so well, because Anakin and I snatched them off Mustafar. Then, when Palps became Emperor Palps, he kidnapped Force sensitive children to become Inquisitors. It was going to work well, but yeah, Ezra, Kanan, Zeb and I rescued some. So, Snoke is taking a leaf out of Palps's book?'

' Precisely,' Luke said. ' Don't know why, but Dark Side users have a tendency of abducting children. Anyways... I sensed that Rey was going to be an extremely powerful Force user, and Leia knew that Snoke was going to do everything to get to her. So only a chosen few knew of Rey's existence.'

' I have a feeling Kylo wasn't part of the chosen few,' Ben said drily.

' Not to be rude, Luke,' Ahsoka pursed her lips. ' But seriously, it's pretty cruel to lie to Kylo.'

' It was _my_ decision. Till now, I'm still wondering whether I made the correct choice,' Luke started to fidget with his wrist com. ' Kylo could be rash and impetuous. If word got out, we could all be doomed. And it worked, since Kylo always stayed on Yavin 4 to train. He rarely saw his parents. So a simple Force signature mask would do the job. But... Leia had to purposely stay away from her son. I guess... This was also why he turned to the Dark Side.'

' Who knew then?' Ahsoka asked, not looking very pleased.

' Only a few higher officials in the Rebellion. Mon Mothma, Ackbar, Wedge, some others... And also the Force ghosts. They always stay on the planet and rarely go out for missions nowadays, so it's highly unlikely for them to get captured and interrogated. Yeah, and we named her. She wasn't supposed to be called Rey. We named her Padme Ahsoka Solo.' Ahsoka was lost for words.

' So...' She said, but her voice came out hoarse. ' How did you manage to raise her in secret throughout the years?'

' I brought her to the Temple,' Luke said.

' Ummm... Isn't that a bit risky?' Ben questioned. ' You know, Kylo could have known.'

' I masked her Force signature, remember? And we introduced her to the rest of the Jedi under the alias of Soka Gerrera. My father suggested it.'

' Gerrera! Saw Gerrera!' Ben said at once.

' You know Saw Gerrera?' Ahsoka smiled.

' Yeah. The Jedi are friends with Saw. Pretty cool guy, I think,' Ben said. ' Still, it's very risky. But I can see why she can use the Force with so little training! She was trained in the ways of the Force when she was little.'

' Rey had a pretty normal childhood in the Temple for a couple years, until one night, the Knights of Ren and Kylo Ren stormed the Temple. I barely escaped with Rey,' Luke said grimly, the terrifying event still vivid inside his head. ' It was too dangerous for Rey to stay with me. So I used the Force memory rub on her and placed her on Jakku.'

' Ah,' Ben nodded. So that was how everything came to be.

' Han and Leia had to pretend not to know Rey to protect her. The less people know, the better.'

They sat there in complete silence. Ben's mind reeled, trying hard to process that complicated piece of information.

Suddenly the door slid open. It was Rey.

' Rey!' Ben yelled too loudly.

' Unfortunately,' She said gravely. ' I might have caught half of the conversation.'

* * *

(Alternate Universe)

Obi-wan was starting to lose his patience.

The Council Members spent half of the Council session bickering about the 'Ben Solo going berserk' issue.

' We ought to hand the boy over to the authorities,' Master Logs said angrily.

' We are perfectly capable of handling it without the help of the authorities!' Caleb said sharply. He had been trying to dissuade the Council Members from trying to execute Kylo (he decided to refer to the other 'Ben' as Kylo in case of confusion), to no avail.

Master Jann yelled, ' We should just execute the Sith!'

In the background, Anakin, who was going redder and redder, shouted all kinds of obscenities at the Masters. Ahsoka sat at the edge of her seat, not talking at all.

 _Oh, no,_ Obi-wan grumbled mentally. _Not again._

' How many times do I need to tell you, Master Jann,' Caleb snapped impatiently. ' We are _not_ going to execute the boy without a proper trial! And he is no Sith, mind you.'

' There is no need for a Trial! The proof is solid! He's a Dark Side user!' Logs bellowed. ' The boy doesn't deserve our help and sympathy.'

Jann said mockingly, ' Of course he doesn't deserve our help! I have always known that he's a dud. Oh, look, his Master isn't any better!'

' What do you have against my family?' Anakin yelled.

 _Good question, Anakin,_ Obi-wan thought wryly. It was more of an old feud. When Luke was four, and Jann openly insulted Anakin in front of many other Jedi. Obviously Luke wanted take revenge on Jann for insulting his father, so he actually went over and stomped hard on her foot. She was in so much pain that she was sent to the Healers. Even the healers were astounded by Luke's strength, since he actually broke some of Jann's bones.

' The Apprentice will always turn out like his or her Master! Obviously he will turn out like his Master,' She added. ' Master Kenobi, I urge you not to harbour this monster.'

Ahsoka, who had been quiet for a very long time, spoke up, ' Master Jann, Pong Krell was your Master, right?'

' What are you implying?' Jann narrowed her eyes.

' Nothing, nothing,' Ahsoka said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ' Your Master turned out to be Dark, committed treason against the Republic, and oooh! He nearly killed half of the 501st and 212th while my Master was away! Like Master, like Apprentice, you say? Looks like you are just like your Master!'

' I...' Jann was lost for words.

Obi-wan said, ' That's quite enough! We can't be staying on this matter for too long. We need to decide on the security protocols of newly discovered hyperspace route.'

* * *

' That's it, I'm retiring,' Obi-wan groaned.

He was walking down the corridor with Anakin and Caleb after the tedious meeting.

' I'd like to retire too!' Caleb said.

' You don't even have a successor,' Obi-wan said humourlessly. ' But I do have one.'

' You can't be making Snips the Grandmaster so soon!' Anakin protested. ' She will be having a tough time trying to organise Council Meetings! And it's extremely stressful trying to negotiate with...' He coughed. ' Council Members.'

' I think Ahsoka will be fine,' Caleb said. ' Look, she was holding up nicely against Jann!'

' Yeah. I'm glad to know that her snippiness is still... intact,' Obi-wan smiled.

Anakin coughed again, ' We are saved by her snippiness... Ironic much?'

Luke and Leia appeared by their side.

' Father, how's Ben?' Leia asked worriedly. ' What did the Council members say?'

Obi-wan looked at Caleb pointedly, ' You do the talking.'

' What?' Luke said.

Caleb placed a hand on Luke's shoulder, ' You two come with me to my quarters. We have a lot to talk about.'

* * *

' Woah, Leia's a Senator?'

Luke had been expressing his astonishment of how his sister was a Senator in the other timeline for the umpteenth time during Caleb's tale.

' What's wrong with it?' Leia said hotly, annoyed that her attention was once again diverted from the story.

' Dunno... I just can't seem to picture you in one of mom's fancy dresses and screaming about bills and budgets in a Senatorial pod,' Luke grinned.

' Mom doesn't scream!' Leia retorted. ' Oh well. I have always known that I'd be a good Senator!'

' How?' Luke winked.

' I could negotiate and stuff. Can't you remember that I came top of the class in politics?'

Luke scoffed, ' Yeah yeah yeah. You could negotiate with people with your lightsaber.'

Leia narrowed her eyes.

Caleb obviously scented danger in the air, so he quickly said, ' Okay, that's quite enough!'

' So, my real son is safe?' Leia asked.

' Yes. He's doing quite well. The other Luke and Ahsoka are looking after him,' Caleb nodded.

' Good. I'm glad to know my Padawan's fine. But what happened to the other Ben?' Luke said, clearly appalled. ' How did he turn out to be like... That?'

' Mistakes, anger and misunderstanding,' Caleb said sympathetically. ' The only thing we can do for Kylo before he goes back is to care more about him. Poor boy, I can't imagine how his life must be back there.' Luke and Leia looked at each other worriedly. ' And the Council won't be letting him go. They are all pretty convinced he's a Sith Lord.'

' I thought you are the Head of the Council!' Leia pointed out angrily. ' Shouldn't you be the one in charge?'

' And isn't Obi-wan the Grandmaster?' Luke chimed in.

' Uh... Yeah...' Caleb scratched the back of his head with a sheepish look. ' Even though two of us are on the Council, we can't do whatever we want. There are still so many other Masters, and some are particularly... Uh, uptight. I have a feeling they still aren't happy with the abolishment of the no-attachment rule, but since Master Yoda and the spirit of Master Qui-gon basically pressured them into accepting it, they had to suck it up.'

' Who?' Leia demanded, crackling her knuckles menacingly.

' Um, Master Saesee Tinn is a tad bit difficult...' Caleb muttered quietly. ' Master Tii and Master Unduli need some more convincing... Master Kiro, Master Jann and Master Logs are completely hopeless. They are as stubborn as wampas.'

Leia didn't look impressed.

' Hey!' Caleb defended himself. ' I'm stuck in a rather uncompromising situation as well! Think about that. In this morning's council meeting, Master Kiro was glaring at me with such disapproval when I begged them not to be so harsh on Kylo! And I feel like Master Jann was secretly berating me. You could literally hear the venom seeping through her make me feel like I'm doing a terrible job of being the Head of Council.'

' Oh yeah. Jedi shouldn't be gossiping or talking about someone behind his or her back, but I have to say I'm not particularly fond of Master Jann,' Luke stuck out his tongue.

' She isn't particularly fond of you too,' Leia commented. ' Especially after... The foot accident.'

' She was insulting Father!' Luke exclaimed. ' Also, I didn't mean to break her foot!'

' Yeah, yeah,' Leia waved her off. ' We know, we know. But... Who was her Master again? Pong Krell? Eurgh. Disgusting man.'

Caleb said loudly, ' Yeah right! You two should work harder so I can have a perfect excuse for kicking her out of the Council and put you two into it!'

' We'll try,' Luke said.

' You _will,'_ Caleb corrected. ' Do or do not, there is no try. Now, we need to discuss on how to cooperate with the other Ahsoka and get Kylo out.'

 **Whew!**

 **Ahhhhhhhh I still don't have the Ahsoka book :(((((( And spoilers are all over tumblr! :/**

 **The new Rogue One trailer is awesome! I was so excited when I saw Vader! XDDDD**

 **Lol, one of my friends was thinking of writing and uploading fanfiction. I was like ' Yeah! Go ahead! Do it!' and I was offering her all kinds of advice, showing her the ropes and bla bla bla. So she was like ' that's strange, why do you know so much about writing fanfiction?' and my face was totally 'I don't know what you are talking about'. XD**


	22. Chapter 22

(Original Timeline)

Ahsoka was so startled that she knocked over her mug with her elbow. No one cared to notice the steady stream of liquid dripping onto the floor, because they were all too busy gawking at Rey, who was standing at the door with her arms folded.

' Ummmmm,' Ben was the first to break the silence.

' I had a feeling that you people are keeping something from me,' She didn't sound angry, but she wasn't very pleased.

' It was my fault, not theirs,' Luke said quickly. ' I made them keep it a secret.'

' I understand. It is to protect me,' She nodded curtly. ' But I must say... I'm not that happy I was kept in the dark this whole time. So Ben, I daresay both of us are extremely close in your timeline, right?'

Ben jerked his head, feeling extremely guilty for keeping this from her.

Rey sighed and shrugged on her cloak, ' I need to meditate on it.' And she left.

Once the door closed, Ben said, ' She isn't angry, is she?'

' No, I don't think so. She's just slightly upset about it, that's all,' Ahsoka assured him. ' She won't be mad at you. But I think you should go talk to her. It'll help her. Rey's strong, but that's a lot of stuff to take in after all. For example, I'd be overwhelmed, shocked and a tad bit horrified at the same time if someone told me that Anakin was actually my brother. Think about that.'

' Hey!' Ghost-Anakin materialised out of thin air, looking insulted.

Luke smiled thinly, ' That'd make you our aunt.'

She clarified, ' Hey. I think of you as my older brother, but no offence, that'd be shocking if you were my real brother. Half brother, I suppose? Since you're not Togrutan.'

Ghost-Anakin huffed, ' Whatever you say, Snips. I heard Rey walking out just now. Let me guess, she didn't take things well?'

' No,' Luke said dejectedly.

' Of course she wouldn't be,' Ghost-Anakin joked. ' Remember when I told you that I was your father? You didn't take it that well. I mean, screaming "NOOOOOOO" and jumping through air shafts? That's rather dramatic.'

' Dude, you just cut off my hand!' Luke said indignantly, shaking his metal hand at Ghost-Anakin's face. ' Why wouldn't I be dramatic?'

Ahsoka hissed at the ghost, ' You are not helping!'

' I will be helping, don't you worry! Let me talk to her,' Ghost-Anakin said.

' You must be kidding me,' Ahsoka said, finally fishing up the mug from the pool of caff. ' You talk to Rey?'

Luke and Ben stared at each other. That had got to be the worst idea ever. Ghost-Anakin was known to give the worst and silliest advices. And he was bound to say something offensive in the wrong situation. Even if that was his grandfather, Ben had no idea whether he trusted him to talk to Rey.

' You know what, give him a try,' Ahsoka sighed. ' It can't go any worse. But don't come back and whine if Rey throws you out.'

' I'm ghost, remember?' Ghost-Anakin rolled up his sleeves. ' I can't be thrown out.'

Ahsoka snarled, ' One day, Skyguy, I will discover how to throw you out.'

' Be my guest,' He said airily, and walked through the wall.

' You know, I hate it when ghosts do that,' Ben commented. ' Last time, Master Yoda literally walked through the Council Room during a briefing and played hide and seek with Master Plo. The rest of the members were scandalised, but they couldn't do anything about it, since it's Master Yoda.'

Luke's eyes popped slightly, ' Hide and seek?'

' Master Yoda and Master Plo playing hide and seek?' Ahsoka snickered. ' That's new.'

' Oh you'd be surprised. The ghosts plan all of the ghostly water bomb wars, birthday cake surprises, April Fool's Day pranks and Christmas concerts,' Ben grinned.

' Tell me more about it after I clean this up,' Ahsoka used the Force to put the mug into the sink. ' The cleaning droids will kill me.'

* * *

Rey huddled herself up on her bed. She didn't even bother to take off her boots.

She ran her fingers through the rough canvas fabric of her blankest, to vent off her confusion. Right, she was confused. On one hand, she was glad that she actually had a family. She wasn't an orphan or abandoned after all. But on the other hand... She _was_ abandoned. Everyone seemed to know about her true parentage behind her back and she was kept in the dark.

She wanted to be angry at Luke, Leia (well, her mother, actually), Ben and maybe even Han (yep, her dad) for keeping this from her. But she knew they did this to protect her from the First Order, bla bla bla.

She screamed in frustration, and flung her pillow to the wall.

' Throwing tantrums is not the Jedi way,' A flighty voice said casually.

She hurled her second pillow at the direction of the 'intruder'. The pillow simply passed through the bluish ghost.

' Doesn't work!' Ghost-Anakin said cheerily. ' You could try throwing a lightsaber through me, and I can tell you, it won't hurt a bit.'

With a scowl, Rey summoned the pillow back to her, ' What do you want?'

' Nothing, nothing, I'd just like a chat with my granddaughter,' Ghost-Anakin snapped his fingers, and a ghostly chair (where did that come from) appeared. ' I'm so glad I have a grandchild that's less problematic.'

Rey scowled again, ' Yeah, right.'

' Are you feeling angry?' Ghost-Anakin asked.

Rey looked at him uncertainly.

' Go ahead. I'm all ears. I won't judge you,' He gestured around him generously. ' And I won't tell them.'

' Yes, I'm a bit angry,' She confessed, hitting her pillow as if it was a punch bag. ' Is there any excuse for leaving me on Jakku alone with that disgusting Unkar Plutt? I know they're trying to protect me, but that's extremely inhumane of them to dump a nine year old onto a junk planet and not care about her wellbeing at all. Maybe they just didn't care.'

Ghost-Anakin coughed loudly, ' Yes, it's inhumane. But I disagree with the last point.'

She narrowed her eyes, ' Pardon me?'

' They cared about you, my sweet,' He shook his head. ' Luke was ridden with guilt and grief after mind wiping and dropping you on Jakku. He wished he could stay with you on Jakku, but he had to go on exile. Leia cried and begged Luke to let her come with you, but he refused, because that would directly alert the First Order to your presence. So they were actually out of options. In the end, Luke pleaded me to help him. Naturally, I would agree to help my granddaughter.'

' What?' Rey gasped. ' You...'

' Oh yes I did!' The ghost said. ' Despite for me strong dislike for sand planets, I visited you from time to time, as Luke had asked.'

' But that can't be,' Rey said, astonished. ' I don't remember seeing you.'

' Of course you didn't see me! I was invisible the entire time! Like a _secret angel,'_ He said dreamily. ' Anyways I stayed and watched over you. Now... Do you recall the times when some kind of problem was inexplicably solved?'

She looked at him, puzzled.

He said, ' Fine. Remember the time when you failed to find parts and yet Unkar Plutt gave you rations?'

' Yeah,' She murmured. ' Now you mention it...' She remembered it. She was twelve at that time, and while she was out scavenging, she encountered a really bad sandstorm. She barely made it out alive. She returned to Unkar's outpost at the end day, tired and sore, and she didn't have any metal parts with her to trade for rations. She was so sure she was going to be left starving, when the man actually slammed down a portion of rations on the counter and sent her away with it.

Ghost-Anakin inspected his nails, ' Simple Force tricks did the work. And... Do you remember the time when you fell through a hole in that Star Destroyer? It was actually a recent accident, I believe.'

' Indeed,' She answered. She was hunting for parts in the Star Destroyer as she did for many times, when she made a false step and fell through a hole. She landed painfully on metal scraps, and she was sure she had broken some of her bones, since she couldn't move. She was about to give up when one of her fellow scavengers' face appeared over the ceiling hole, and shouted to her anxiously. He called for help, and the other scavengers rescued her in no time.

' Simple Force calls,' Ghost-Anakin said. ' I got lucky. The boy had a low midi-chlorian count in him, but he was a bit Force-sensitive nonetheless. I appeared in his mind as a nagging voice and asked him to check out the Star Destroyer. Look, Luke asked me to look after you, and I did.' Rey was quiet.

' Just hear Luke and Ben out, okay? They feel pretty horrible too for lying,' Ghost-Anakin advised. ' And you should go find your mother. She'd be overjoyed.' Rey nodded.

' Well then,' Ghost-Anakin said. ' I'll be leaving. I got some, ah, ghostly things to do. Wait till the Old Man hears that I am not a bad advisor! And I have this... Ghostly trick I'd like to try.'

' What-'

He erupted into blue flames, hot wind sent everything flying in Rey's room and he disappeared with a thunderous crack.

' Dramatic much,' Rey muttered grumpily, as she bent to pick up her things.

* * *

(Alternate Timeline)

Little Rey was having a very bad day.

She knew the Jedi feared and respected her grandfather, however that didn't stop them from gossiping about her brother.

She couldn't go anywhere without her fellow Jedi initiates or passing by Padawans jeering at her for having a Sith brother. She pretended not to hear these insults by hurrying through the corridors. It didn't do that much good.

She tried shouting back, arguing that they were wrong and her brother wasn't a Sith.

' Pooh, if he isn't a Sith, why does he know Dark techniques?' A particularly nasty boy in her group retorted disdainfully, and it left her drained. She was unable to defend her brother.

She wouldn't deny the fact that her brother used a Dark technique. She saw it with her very own eyes. But if her brother was an evil, scheming Sith Lord (her textbooks described Sith Lords as Jedi hating monsters who went at great lengths to destroy them all), he would have taken the chance to kill them all along with Boba Fett.

No, he used the Dark Side to save them.

That was different, wasn't it? Simple logic. If her brother wasn't a Jedi hating monster who destroyed Jedi, then he must not be a Sith Lord.

She found a silent spot at the training grounds, right under the giant tree, and allowed herself to be immersed in her train of thought.

Without noticing, Ahna plopped down and sat next to her.

' Why so glum, Rey?' The Padawan asked kindly.

' Ahna, do you think my brother is a Sith Lord?' She looked up gloomily.

' What?' Ahna seemed taken back.

' You were there, you fought Boba Fett with him,' Rey said. ' You saw him using that... I don't know what that is... Sith technique! But do you believe he is a Sith Lord?'

' No, I don't think he is a Sith Lord,' Ahna said firmly. ' He did it to save us all.'

Rey said excitedly, ' You think so too? Thank the Force I'm not the only one!'

Ahna said, ' Though I have to say it's quite curious that Ben knows how to use the Dark Side. I grew up and studied with him. He doesn't seem like the type that would be swayed by the Dark Side. What did your parents say about it?'

' Dunno,' Rey pulled at her robes forlornly. ' I don't think Dad knows since he rarely interferes with Jedi business. I haven't seen Grandfather, Mom or Uncle Luke since the accident actually. The Council kept summoning them.'

' Who looks after you then?' Ahna asked.

' Ahsoka takes me to classes,' She said thoughtfully. ' And Rex comes over to cook.'

' Ah,' Ahna nodded. She knew that Captain Rex and the other clones were good friends of the Skywalker family and Ahsoka.

' What if the Council expels Ben?' Rey asked worriedly.

' Who told you that?' Ahna said, surprised.

Rey looked down at her boots, ' I overheard some of the older Padawans discussing about it. They said... The Council is thinking of banishing Ben.'

' That's rubbish!' Ahna said angrily, temporarily forgetting that anger is not the Jedi way and cracked her knuckles menacingly. ' Don't listen to them, Rey. And I'll be sure to give them a good kick in the face for spreading rumours. I bet it's Padawan Darold Kettle and his goons. They never give up the opportunity to make fun and gossip about somebody. I've been wanting to hit them for ages!'

' Won't you get in trouble for hitting someone?' Rey said anxiously.

' Probably not. Most other Padawans are sick and tired of Darold. And most Masters are too busy to care about standard Padawan protocol, so who cares,' She said nonchalantly, and she took Rey's hand in hers. ' You know what, you don't need to worry. I'll help you if someone bad-mouths Ben. And whenever necessary, I'll help him.'

The Padawan and the initiate sat together under the tree, taking comfort in each other's company, until the sun began to set.

 **Ahhhhh I'm attacked by a hurricane of homework and tests! XOOOOO**

 **First up, awesome Rebels episode! :P Ah, the nostalgia in the end theme. They did an awesome job of merging TCW and SWR's logos together. I was literally jumping excitedly when I saw it.**

 **Secondly... I still don't have the Ahsoka book D: But my Bloodline book arrived yesterday, so I'll read that first. :P**

 **Hopefully I can update soon. Since I have something planned for the next few chapters... ;)**


	23. Chapter 23

**This chapter is 'original timeline' only :P**

(Original Timeline)

' Hiya Ben, we signed you up for a ground assault mission,' Poe told Ben.

Rey looked up from her datapad and frowned, ' Isn't that a bit risky? I mean, he looks like Kylo Ren. The First Order will know at once when they see him and report to that awful Supreme Leader Snoke that Kylo Ren is siding with the Resistance.'

After her conversation with Ghost-Anakin, she was starting to accept her parentage and began to call Leia 'Mom'. Needless to say, Luke and Ahsoka were most bemused that Ghost-Anakin's advices worked. The ghost was most unwilling to let them in on what he had said and he even made Rey keep it a secret.

' It's a fail-safe plan,' Finn assured. ' We'll all be wearing helmets and fighting gear. No one will recognise him.'

Rey didn't seem very convinced, but she returned her attention to the famous romance holo novel Jessika had introduced her to.

Ben shrugged, ' Sure. I'll go. What do I have to do?'

' It's a place guarded by First Order Stormtroopers. We need to hijack the place and get away with some resources. Food, medical supplies and weapons,' Poe explained. ' You won't be allowed to fight with a lightsaber, because... Because...' He paused awkwardly. ' Yeah, you know why. I expect the mission to be successful. That place is too remote to have any backup help.'

' Sounds great,' Ben said.

' Cool! Then we'll be out after lunch,' Poe pushed away his datapad. ' Do expect us for dinner. We'll be back before the suns sets with loads of supplies.'

Rey muttered something unintelligible over her book.

* * *

Ahsoka was meditating.

She was feeling rather off. Usually, while she was meditating, all she could see in her head was a smudge of silvery white light. But she was currently seeing a dark red ball of light in the centre. It was moving towards her in high speed. But pale green tendrils were surrounding it, revolving around it like some kind of a prison.

She was ignoring it, but the fizzing ball of energy hit her full force in the face, and it actually knocked her backwards. ' Augh!' She yelled, toppling back and instantaneously, a Convor appeared out of thin air, dragging a struggling bat that was sizzling with electricity in its claws. The Convor pecked the bat sharply to silence it. It cooed at Ahsoka, beckoning her to come forward.

Ahsoka crept forward, ' No way.'

The two creatures shimmered and grew, until they were replaced by tall humanoid figures in long flowing robes. The Daughter shook her head, letting her mane of green hair fall past her shoulders, ' Ugh, human form is more comfortable than bird form, I have to say.' Her brother stood next to her, scowling at her. His hands were cuffed together by a tendril of green energy.

' Hello Ahsoka,' She waved pleasantly.

' We meet again, Jedi,' The Son snarled, showing his pearly white teeth.

' I found him as you asked,' The Daughter paid no attention to her brother. ' Guess where I found him?'

Ahsoka raised an eye marking.

She said exasperatedly, ' I found him floating on top of another messed up world. A horrendously messed up world where Obi-wan Kenobi was your Master.'

Ahsoka blanched, ' Oh, wow. That's unexpected. What about Anakin?'

' He's still the Chosen One,' For once, the Son seemed happy. ' But he's your apprentice! And what's more, Yoda is the Sith Lord and Jar Jar Binks is the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic! And ooh, Cad Bane and Boba Fett are Jedi Masters. What fun!'

' Eurgh, your work, I suppose,' Ahsoka said in disgust.

' Indeed,' The Daughter said. ' I had forcibly drag him away and it wasn't easy. I'll make him clear up that mess, I promise. The Republic is on the edge of crumbling to bits under the Gungan's rule. I have no idea why the Senators appointed him instead of Palpatine after Valorum stepped down. But now, you have to clear up _this_ mess you made.'

' And why should I clear up this mess?' The Son said peevishly.

' _Because_ ,' The Daughter said, her voice dangerously soft and sweet. ' You are disturbing the fragile balance between the Force and time!'

' I don't care about the balance. I'm bored!' The Son snapped. ' Can't I have some entertainment after being cooped up on that creepy planet for half of my life?'

' You have to even if you don't care! Do you want the foundation of the Force to crumble and break? It'll be the death of us! Even the divine beings can't be saved in the destruction of the Force!' The Daughter yelled at him. ' Our Father will kill us!'

Ahsoka watched the siblings bantering with each other. Strangely, it reminded her of Anakin and herself having one of their 'snippy' banters. Maybe it was the only time the Son and the Daughter were acting like real siblings. Most of the time they were just trying to kill or chewing out each other.

' Psttt,' The Son said at last, his red eyes shining. ' You're being a party pooper, sis. Whatever, whatever. I'm getting bored anyways. I'll settle this. Now, where's the famous boy?'

' He's participating in a ground assault,' Ahsoka said.

' Whoops, tough luck,' The Son grinned, not sounding sympathetic at all. ' I'll need him to be here in front of me to work my _magic.'_

' What? Why?' Ahsoka demanded.

' _Because,'_ The Son winked. ' It's magic. It works in unexplainable ways. Bring me the boy, and I will help you.'

' We'll have to wait,' The Daughter said. ' Fortunately, my Force cuff won't fade that easily, so he'll be stuck here until I release him.'

' That's wonderful, sis. What about taking those cuffs away? I could just pop over to where the boy is in a second,' The Son suggested helpfully.

The Daughter glowered at him, ' And risk having you escape in the process? No. A hundred percent no.'

' Tsk,' Her brother sniffed. ' A little more trust would be sincerely appreciated, my dear sister. But I have to say you are right, because I never do-' The Daughter shot him a reproachful look so reminiscent to the Father's, that he stopped.

' Okay, guys, stop arguing,' Ahsoka said awkwardly. ' Let's just wait. The ground assault won't take long, I believe. He should be back very soon.'

' Oh, very soon,' The Son muttered to himself.

* * *

A ball of flame sailed over Ben's head and lodged itself onto one of the First Order's ships, blowing it up with an impressive bang.

Poe was pretty intent on blowing the First Order's ships up first to block off their only escape method while one of the lieutenants, a strong woman named Janice Kyra, sneaked off to grab the supplies. So everyone complied to his orders and began working on the ships. Ben was dressed from head to toe in protective armour, complete with a helmet. Fortunately, the suit was fire-proof, or else he would have died once the battle started. The First Order had really wicked fire weapons.

' On my count, 3, 2, 1!'

Finn lobbed a thermal detonator at another of the ships. It exploded.

' Hey, watch out,' A woman jumped next to Ben. She was wearing... Mandalorian armour? Unlike Rex or Cody's armours, which were painted in one standard colour, her armour was spray painted with numerous shades of colours.

She jumped up again, leaping over burning bits of metal with grace and agility, and Ben watched as she spray painted a giant blue coloured starbird onto the side of a ship.

The famous logo of the Ghost Crew.

' Sabine,' Ben said in amazement. Of course the graffiti artist would also exist here.

Jumping backwards, she detonated the explosive on her proud artwork, and the entire area was lit up with bright blue fire and paint. A couple paint splattered Stormtroopers could be seen trying to flee from the scene.

' Thank you, Sabine!' One of the commanders yelled. ' Your paint bombs always work! Let's get on-'

' You're welcome! But I've set an explosive on every ship already,' She shouted back, and pressed the button of her detonator. Immediately, several ships exploded in a multicoloured supernova.

' Most impressive,' Poe said in awe. ' Let's go!'

Ben put down his visor, and charged at the incoming Stormtroopers, silently thanking Rex for giving him blaster lessons. His grandfather thought it was highly unnecessary, but his mother encouraged it. This skill could further perfect his Jar'kai skills, and Jar'kai training would also help him perfect his blaster wielding skills. Of course, his Jar'kai was nowhere as good as Ahsoka, but at least he tried.

' We'll have to split up,' Finn dodging the sea of blaster bolts aimed at his direction. ' Those guys keep coming!'

' Yeah, I agree,' Poe stood up in a flash to deliver some bolts at the enemy's direction, and promptly crouched down behind the wall again. ' Let's split up, and rendezvous at where we dropped off once Janice gets the supplies. May the Force be with you!' Everyone nodded and ran off in all directions.

Ben stealthily sneaked behind the walls, a surprise attack plan formulating in his head. He crouched near the corner, and peeked at the side. Aha! Stormtroopers were running about that area.

He could sneak up on them and drop-

A hand clamped tight over his mouth, cutting off his oxygen supply. He writhed in alarm, his Jedi reflexes kicking in, trying to disarm the silent assailant. But his endeavours were futile, as the assailant smacked a white cloth over his nose and mouth, the smell of some kind of drug filling his nostrils and throat.

Someone's face loomed into view, but he couldn't see anything clearly. His vision was blurring rapidly... That was the last thing he saw before going limp in the person's arms.

* * *

' WHAT?!' Luke stood up abruptly. ' What do you mean he's missing?'

The blue holo of Poe said anxiously, ' He's missing! The strike team was going to meet up after Lieutenant Kyra gets the supplies! Ben never came back. We sent in a second team to scour the place twice after the First Order troops had evacuated, but we never found him.'

' Did you try the life form scanner?' Ahsoka asked, desperately trying to ignore the smirking Son, who was sitting at the corner of the room.

' We did,' Finn came into view. ' We set up BB-8 and C1-10P to scan for lifeforms. They didn't pick up anything. Commander Wren said she last saw Ben rushing off to several klicks east from the rendezvous point. It seems as if he has vanished into thin air.'

' Where could he be?' Kanan was pale, after the holo figures disappeared.

The Son scoffed loudly, ' That's rather obvious, isn't it?'

' What!' Ahsoka shouted impatiently.

The Son sighed dramatically (his sister stared with disapproval), ' You obviously don't know a lot about typical villainy, treachery, Sithy, yada yada yada. He's been kidnapped by the First Order, of course!'

Ezra said, ' You must be kidding me.'

' I'm not! He must have been recognised!' The Son said.

' Excuse me,' Kanan said. ' That kiddo wore a helmet with a visor on.'

' Then Snoke is more powerful than you think,' For once, the Son seemed serious. ' That guy is extremely accomplished in the dark arts, my dear boy. His secret is blown, unfortunately.'

' Can't you do anything about it?' Ezra asked angrily.

The Son smiled lazily, ' Once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown, Ezra Bridger. Remember that?'

Ezra reeled back, surprised by the quote from Bendu.

' Snoke wants the boy,' The Son looked around the room impressively. ' Such a talented young Jedi. So easy to sway and corrupt as well.'

Luke clenched a fist, ' We can't let him do that to Ben. He has already corrupted my nephew.'

' Couldn't you just kill Snoke?' Ezra demanded.

' Alas, can't do anything about it,' The Son said.

' It's true,' The Daughter admitted. ' Back in the old days, we might have influence on the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force, and when necessary, we alter how the Force works. But now, we are only spirits. We no longer have control over the solid world.'

' But you can still exchange souls and work your magic on time!' Ezra growled.

' That is the only thing I can do!' The Son huffed. ' Why else would I be bored, boy?' Ezra went silent.

' We need a plan,' Ahsoka folded her arms. ' We have to get Ben out of there.'

' How?' Luke asked wearily. ' I hate to say it, but we definitely can't just escape with Ben under Snoke's very own nose. We'll need help. From other people, and...'

' There is no more Jedi,' Kanan continued.

' Not here, perhaps...' Ahsoka went into her 'Obi-wan Kenobi' mode. ' But maybe...'

' What do you have in mind?' Luke prompted.

She turned to the Daughter, ' I need your help. Quick.'

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger!**

 **Yay! I got the Ahsoka book! XDDDD Now reading it.**

 **Here's the Me and Star Wars section to... uh, compensate for the cliffhanger.**

 ***T'was the school casual wear day so I wore my favourite Force Awakens T-shirt to school (hey, I won't be giving up the opportunity to wear Star Wars!)***

 **Me: *walks along the corridor to the next class***

 **Random girl who's from the other grade: *walks from the opposite direction and is actually wearing a Darth Vader T-shirt***

 **Me: *sees her T-shirt* OH MY A FELLOW FAN ASDFGHJKL**

 **Random girl: *gasps* WHAAAAT**

 **Me: We really connected today.**

 **Fandoms really do bring people together. XD**


	24. Chapter 24

**Yep. Confusing. I know. This is where all of them catch up with each other.**

(Alternate Timeline - Original Timeline)

Caleb hurried along the corridors.

Oh, it was going so badly. He wanted to tear his hair out.

That annoying Master Jann requested for an interrogation. He couldn't believe that an overwhelming number of Council members agreed with the plan.

Anakin yelled, screamed and threw a child-like tantrum even, but that didn't sway the Council members' resolve. In the end, since his behaviour was so outrageous, Ahsoka had to carry her own Master out, while he was kicking and screaming. Caleb had a feeling Anakin would be slightly mad at Ahsoka for quite some time (nah actually, he wouldn't be mad for long at his precious Snips).

He had no idea what the Masters were going to do to him. Force-choking? Mind tricks? Threatening him with a lightsaber at his face? Ugh. He didn't want to know.

Oh Force, he hoped that Kylo would be able to hold up against them. He couldn't do anything about it, even if he was the Head of the Council. Maybe he should just go to Ahsoka's quarters and ask for her opinion... Or maybe he could smuggle Kylo out with her help...

He made up his decision and whirled around to the small corridor that would lead him to the Master's quarters, when he directly walked up to a giant swirling golden and green vortex.

' Whoa!' His heart nearly stopped in alarm.

Standing in front of the giant thing, was the Daughter.

' Hello Caleb,' She said pleasantly.

' Whoa...' He steadied himself. ' I'm glad to see you, my Lady! But... How...'

' I am using Ahsoka Tano's body as a vessel, so I can stay for a longer time,' She said lightly. ' You may notice this if you concentrate.'

Caleb narrowed his eyes in concentration. The Daughter's entire form flickered like candle flame, and just underneath her, he could see the very faint outline of Ahsoka's slender figure and the tips of her montrals.

' Ah well, I can see Ahsoka now,' Caleb stood straight. ' What are you doing here? Has something happened?'

' Yeah,' The Daughter said. ' Ben Solo has been taken hostage by the First Order.'

For the second time, Caleb's heart nearly stopped, ' WHAT?!'

' This could be serious, according to my brother,' She continued. ' Because Snoke will corrupt him and try to turn him to the Dark Side. He'll become the next Kylo Ren and stand by Snoke's side.'

' This can't happen!' Caleb murmured.

' Snoke could be... Very persuasive,' The Daughter winced. ' Luke knew that. So they need help.'

' Can't you help them?'

The Daughter sighed, ' I wish I could! But we can't do anything to the physical world. The best I can do is to send some help from the this timeline to them. Are you willing to help them?'

Caleb hesitated for a moment. Well, he needed to get Kylo out of his 'prison' and restore him to his original life anyways. ' I'll be happy to help,' He said finally.

' Good,' The Daughter nodded. ' Go grab the boy. I'll be waiting here.'

' But... Won't the other Jedi find you?' Caleb asked nervously. The last thing on his mind would be that awful Master Jann finding the pathway to the future and wreaking havoc at his friends' place.

' I have placed a charm around this area,' The Daughter waved her hand, and Caleb realised there was some kind of shimmering green veil around the area. ' Only the worthy can make it past the shield. Normal people will just gaze upon the green veil and see nothing.'

' Okay, okay, okay,' Caleb repeated and he turned to the other side of the corridor, leading to where Kylo was kept. Once he passed through the corridor, he broke into a sprint. He was in such a hurry, that he crashed into Ahsoka.

' Be careful, Caleb,' The Master said.

' Ahsokaaaa!' He yelled, a bit too enthusiastically. ' I have been looking for you.'

' You have? What's going on? Is it about Kylo's trial? You know, I wish I could help, but there were too many Masters on Jann's side,' She fidgeted with her weapon's belt.

' We have to break Kylo out, now,' Caleb said.

Ahsoka blinked for several times, ' Er, what?'

Caleb told her all about the kidnapping of Ben. There was a heavy silence. ' I can help. I must help Ben. What do I have to do?' She said firmly.

' Go grab Anakin. We'll need him too,' Caleb said.

Ahsoka frowned, ' That'd be very hard. He has been sulking off in his quarters for half a day already. He isn't budging at all, not even when Padme called him for lunch. If his beloved wife can't move him away, I'm not sure whether I could move him.'

' Drag him away if necessary,' Caleb shrugged. ' Like how you did back in the Council chambers.'

She eyed him, ' He'd totally kill me.'

' Nawwww, he won't,' He grinned. ' Aggressive negotiations if necessary!'

She stared at him and sighed after some time, ' Fine. I'll do it. Where do I look for this... Greenish vortex?'

' Easy. The corridor leading to the Masters' wing.'

' Thanks,' Ahsoka said. ' May the Force be with you.'

He hurried down the corridor, and skidded to halt right outside of the locked quarters. As he had guessed, it was locked. And apparently someone had changed the passcode to the lock without notifying the Council. Great. ' How am I supposed to open it?' He cursed quietly.

His fingers went to his lightsaber, which was attached to his belt.

No. He couldn't do this.

But he was too desperate, so with a simple flick of his wrist, he brought down his azure coloured lightsaber and cut down the door into two neat halves. That was when the alarms started blaring like mad. Caleb thought his eardrums were going to burst. He kicked down the broken remnants of the door, and strode inside, ignoring the ringing in his ears.

Kylo stood up immediately, looking shocked. Without any explanation, Caleb seized his arm and started pulling him outside.

' Whoa, what are you doing?' Kylo gasped.

' Don't you want to get out of here?'

' Yeah...'

' That's exactly what I'm doing! Getting you out!' Caleb exclaimed. He cringed when he heard furious screaming behind them. Ignition of lightsabers indicated that the Temple guards were after them.

' Thanks for getting me out!' Kylo said, trying to yank his arm out of Caleb's iron grip. ' But you're going to get yourself in trouble, Master.'

' Nah, all of us will be in trouble together,' Caleb said, decisively turning round the corner. ' Besides, we have somewhere to hide. Obi-wan can explain for us, so I'm not that worried about it.'

' What exactly is going on?' Kylo asked, confused.

' No time to explain! Just be a good kid,' Caleb said. ' We need to hurry, or else the Temple guards will catch up with us. Who knows what will happen to me?'

He knew they were safe once they passed the green shield. Indeed, the Daughter was waiting for them.

Ahsoka, who was grabbing Anakin, jumped lightly through the shield, ' I'm here. What happened? Alarms are going off, Temple guards everywhere, Jedi Masters running around the area.'

' Oh, you're here,' Caleb said, so he pushed a startled Kylo right into the portal. There was a lot of screaming, but he disappeared right through it. ' Oh well, that's my fault. I kinda broke Kylo out.'

' Wait what?' Anakin stared between the Daughter and his friends. ' What's going on again?'

Ahsoka took a leaf out of Caleb's book and shoved Anakin face-first into the portal. Then, she straightened and nodded at the Daughter, ' It has been a long time.'

' Indeed, Ahsoka Tano,' The Daughter smiled. ' Now hurry up.'

Ahsoka gestured briefly to the portal, ' After you, Caleb.'

Caleb allowed himself to fall into the nothingness.

* * *

(Original Timeline)

Ezra frowned and pointed at the vortex, ' Are you sure this is going to work?'

' Who knows,' The Son yawned, obviously not interested in the situation at all. ' My Sister's magic is extremely rusty. She never practices because of complications in the Force, balance in the Force, bla bla bla. I care nothing about it. Look at how powerful I am now.'

' Do us a favour and shut up,' Kanan said.

Something rippled in the middle of it, like a wave. The next second, two people were thrown outwards, and one of them landed directly on Ezra. The other was thrown onto the wall.

' Yeouch!' Ezra was pinned on the ground by the weight.

' Oh, ha ha, it worked,' The Son said, sitting up. ' Look, isn't that Kylo Ren?'

Ezra got up, turned the unconscious person over, and nodded grimly at Luke, ' Yes, that's Kylo. And that's Anakin, I believe.' On the cue, Anakin groaned and stirred a little.

Kanan observed Kylo, ' He looks like Ben Solo though. He's still in his body. Place him aside first. Gently, Ezra! Don't throw him using the Force. We'll deal with him once he wakes up, because we have a lot more to do.' At the same moment, another person came through and this time, landed gracefully on the ground instead of flying out.

It was Caleb Dume.

He recovered quickly, and brightened at the sight of his older self, ' Older-Me!' All dignity of a Jedi Master forgotten, he ran over and crushed Kanan in a bear-hug.

' Ow! Watch my ribs!'

Caleb let go of Kanan, ' Ezra!'

' I know you miss me, but no thanks,' Ezra backed away, but he too, received an equally bone crushing hug. Eventually, Caleb let him go, and he spluttered and coughed, rubbing at his aching ribs.

In the next minute, Ahsoka came through too, along with the Daughter. Instantly, the Daughter's form glowed, and she turned back to the other Ahsoka.

' Hiya,' The Son waved lazily.

The younger Ahsoka jumped, ' You! What are you doing here?'

' Having fun,' The Son said.

As if to make matters more confusing, Ghost-Anakin appeared, squealed in delight, and joyfully reunited with his living self.

' Look at all of you!' He clapped. ' Obi-wan and Yoda would have loved to join us, but they are currently on a vacation on the planet Hoth. Lucky! I would have loved to visit the remains of the old Rebel base, but well, I'm here for you, bla bla bla.'

Luke waved his father off, ' Do ignore him. Anyways, I'm so glad you could come. We really need all the help we can get to have Ben back.'

' Why is he even captured?' Anakin demanded. ' I thought you were going to keep him safe.' He glared accusatorially at them all.

' That,' Ezra said awkwardly. ' We should let Commander Dameron and Commander Wren explain to you. They were there when Ben was taken away.'

' By chance, is this Commander Dameron Poe Dameron?' Anakin narrowed his eyes.

' Ooh yeah,' Ghost-Anakin answered. ' You will be pleased to know that he is the best pilot in the Resistance. You know him?'

' Yeah, he's one of my grandson's best friends,' Anakin said. ' What about this Commander Wren? Sabine Wren, perhaps?'

' Yep.'

' Oh gosh! So!' Caleb pointed at Ezra excitedly. ' Are you two married or not?'

In just a millisecond, Ezra's face turned from marble white to tomato red, as if he was badly sunburned.

' Yes,' Kanan answered for Ezra. ' They have been married for quite some time.'

Caleb yelled gleefully, ' EXCELLENT! That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you, my dear boy! I wish Ezra at my time is a little more, ahem, _initiative_ towards his love. You know, he can be pretty stubborn, and-'

' Ooooooooh,' Ghost-Anakin said mysteriously, and Luke mentally face-palmed himself. His father loved juicy gossip. The time when Kanan finally gathered his courage and proposed to Hera, Ghost-Anakin didn't shut up for months, even after the actual wedding.

' That's quite enough,' Luke closed his eyes, a sense of deja vu coming up. ' There are more serious matters to settle. Daughter, I think you can close the portal now.'

The Daughter nodded curtly, and prepared to cast her magic, but before she could do anything, there were screaming and shrieking from the centre of the portal, and one more person was violently dislodged from it.

' I'm dead! That's it! I'm dead! I'm dead!' The person shouted in panic, clambering on the floor. The rest of them stared on, too shocked to say anything.

The person looked up and trembled in fear.

He was the other Ezra Bridger.

' Wow, whoops,' Ghost-Anakin placed a hand over his mouth. ' That was unexpected.'

 **Oh my gosh! Has it been more than a week since I updated?! :OOOOOOO Sorry about that! I have tons of tests, assignments and stuff to do... :( I can't guarantee when I will be updating, but I hope it will be soon, since I have much less things to do this week.**


	25. Chapter 25

**I know I know! It's very confusing! Now there are two Ahsokas and two Ezras existing in the same timeline! In order to avoid any confusion, from now on, original timeline Ahsoka and Ezra will be referred as Fulcrum and Older-Ezra respectively until further notice. Sorry about that! :P**

 **And... Hint hint. Ezra has fangirls.**

Ezra glanced up in fear at the Jedi, who crowded around him. This wasn't what he signed up for.

But he should have known that this could happen when he jumped into that green portal.

He was leisurely strolling down the corridors after his duty in the archives, when he spotted Temple Guards with ignited yellow lightsabers sprinting down the hallways. He asked the nearest Temple Guard about the situation, and he told him that prisoner Ben Solo had escaped from his room. Once the Guard ran away to continue on his chase, Ezra decided to find his Master.

He spotted Ahsoka dragging a reluctant Anakin while he walked past the Council Chambers.

' That is weird,' He said to himself. ' What's going on?' So he decided to follow them. He peeked from behind a pillar, and to his surprise, Ahsoka and Anakin literally vanished after walking through a second corridor.

Something fishy was definitely going on.

He hurried to the area where he last saw them, and examined the place. He cautiously experimented by walking through it. Immediately, once he passed through the entrance of the corridor, a large swirling green portal appeared in front of him. He was sure he saw Ahsoka jumping through it.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes. It was still there. He pinched his cheek even, but yet, the portal still existed. He wasn't hallucinating.

Huh.

Without thinking of any possible consequences, he jumped through after Ahsoka.

Currently, he wasn't entirely sure whether he regretted following Ahsoka, because all of them peered at him as if he was some kind of exotic animal that had appeared out of the blue (well he did appear out of the blue). Oh, and there was Kylo, sprawled on the floor and out cold.

' Well,' The old man who kind of looked like Luke was the first to speak. ' This was unexpected. But it's good to see you, Ezra.'

His Master coughed loudly, ' I didn't expect you to come after me, my young Padawan.'

* * *

They made Ezra sit on a chair, in case he collapsed after hearing about the entire story from Ghost-Anakin. Fulcrum and Kanan started dragging Kylo into a more comfortable position, in case he suddenly woke up.

' So...' He said with much difficulty, and gestured to the unconscious body of Kylo. ' This... Kylo and Ben's bodies have been switched.'

' Mm-hm,' Ghost-Anakin nodded encouragingly.

' It wasn't Ben Solo I have been talking to and working with all these time... It was Kylo Ren,' He said to himself. They could literally see the cogs working furiously inside his head. Then, he sighed deeply in relief, ' Thank the Force. I knew that Ben wouldn't be like that. I was so worried when rumours of him Turning started to circulate the Temple. '

Luke said, ' Now, Ezra, you could choose to leave if you want to. I know you didn't really sign up for this.'

' Nah,' He shook his head. ' I'd be willing to stay here and help. Besides, I don't want to face any enquiries when I get back. Obi-wan the Negotiator should be able to hold back the Masters by himself.'

' Excellent, we really appreciate it,' Fulcrum said.

At the same time, Caleb started nudging Kylo, ' Oi, when is he going to wake up? He has been sleeping for a long time like the _Sleeping Rancor._ '

' Uh, I'm 99.9% sure it's the Sleeping Beauty,' Anakin said.

' I'm 100% sure it's the Sleeping Rancor,' Caleb insisted.

' Listen here kiddo, I've been listening to tales from space pilots at cantinas since I was a kid, and the Sleeping Beauty was one of them.'

' The Sleeping Rancor!'

' Fine!' Anakin growled in frustration, not wanting to argue with him.

Luke said, ' Uh, he's just in shock, he'll be fine. Kanan, would you mind looking after Kylo? Give me a call when he wakes up. I'll need to talk to Leia about what to do with all of you. For now... It's about dinnertime, I guess. You could get ready and go down to the mess hall in ten minutes. I'll have one of the cooks deliver Kanan's meal up here, but I won't be joining you guys for dinner..'

' But... How do you explain the sudden appearance of so many Jedi?' Ghost-Anakin asked.

' Yeah, good question,' Older-Ezra said.

' Just say they were former Padawans in your Order,' Fulcrum instructed. ' They have been in hiding since the Yavin Temple was destroyed, and we have recently found them in hiding on some backwater planet.'

' Good idea, Ahsoka,' Luke said. ' I'll tell Leia to relay this message to the Resistance officials.'

He glanced awkwardly around the room, ' So... I'll get going then.'

* * *

Apparently Leia had announced over the intercom that they would be joined by a group of Jedi. So by the time they got down to the mess hall, almost all the members in the Resistance knew of their arrival. They jostled at each other and crowded around them, so that they could get a good look at the group of Jedi.

But Leia had also decided that Rey, Finn and Poe needed to know of the truth, so she summoned them to her quarters immediately after Luke had left, and briefed them on the situation. Poe immediately took it upon himself to protect the Jedi wherever they went, and started shooing the nosy people.

With much difficulty, the navigated through the mob of people, and found empty tables to sit at. Ezra and Older-Ezra sat together, while the rest sat in one big bunch.

Poe passed out bowls of hot soup and plates of food. While Finn watched them eat, he said anxiously, ' Look, I'm really worried about Ben. Please do save him before the First Order does anything to him.'

' Yeah,' Rey clasped her hands together. ' Besides that... I heard Kylo Ren is-'

' Shhh!' Poe said sharply.

She grimaced and dropped her voice to a whisper, ' Sorry. I heard Kylo Ren is here, right?'

' Yeah,' Caleb whispered back. ' He had been unconscious for a long time, but he'll be fine. Kanan is looking after him.'

The Jedi Masters that came from the other timeline still couldn't believe the cute little girl that tottered around the Temple was a beautiful, grown lady in this time.

' Soooooo,' Ezra said. ' S'up?'

Older-Ezra glanced at him, ' Huh?'

' What's up? How's life?' Ezra asked.

' Fine, I guess,' Older-Ezra chased the food on his plate with a fork. ' How about-'

There were rudely interrupted by loud giggling. Yes. Very annoying giggling. Female pilots and technicians kept throwing coquettish looks across the room at Ezra. They started giggling and talking in high-pitched voices.

Rey observed Ezra. Well, she had been living on a sand planet with ugly scavengers for half of her life, but she knew that Ezra was handsome, or according to other girls, hot. She had a lot of trouble communicating with girls here, because they always conversed in this strange giggly language (Finn dubbed it 'Girlish'). Probably Jessika was the most normal out of them all.

Ezra resembled Older-Ezra in many ways, except he was younger and yes, he didn't keep a beard. Also, he kept his dark hair long and tied all of that back in a high ponytail, like how Kanan used to.

' Oh man,' Ezra face-palmed.

' Look here, Blueberry's got _fangirls_ ,' Caleb snickered. ' Blueberry fans everywhere!'

' Whaaaat,' Older-Ezra panicked.

Ahsoka laughed, ' Oh yes! The Holonet reporters dub Ezra as one of the hottest in the Jedi Order.'

Ezra looked as if he was about to faint, and Older-Ezra was so mortified. He wanted to dig a hole in the wall and just hide there for the rest of his life.

' We should stop teasing him,' Fulcrum smiled. ' We shouldn't make him any more uncomfortable.'

' Yeah we should,' Caleb stifled a grin, but he still looked rather gleeful.

It took every muscle and all the willpower in Ezra's body to stop himself from slamming his head onto the table. The situation really was frustrating.

The Holonet gave everyone very respectful and honourable titles.

Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With No Fear.

Obi-wan Kenobi, the Negotiator.

Caleb Dume, the Delightful Master (well, it's honourable, according to Caleb).

Ahsoka Tano, the Youngest Knight.

Luke Skywalker, the New Hope.

Leia Skywalker, the Warrior.

Everyone got nice titles. But what did he get? The Hottest Jedi. Yes. Life is unfair. It has always been unfair. Worst of all, he had fangirls. And they proudly called themselves the Blueberry Fans. Anakin sometimes complain that he was stealing away his fan base, as if the entire thing wasn't embarrassing enough. Hera, Zeb, Sabine and even pesky Chopper teased him endlessly about it.

Fortunately, the clones were there to rescue him from his bubble of embarrassment and humiliation.

' Hiya, we heard of your arrival,' Rex winked, carrying a tray of food.

' Oh hey Rex,' Anakin said. ' I hope you are doing well?'

' Yes I am,' Rex squared his shoulders. ' Can't be any better.'

Ahsoka was staring at Rex's snowy white beard with mixed awe and surprise.

' Hey there... Er, Commander Tano...' Cody nodded awkwardly at the two Togrutas. ' And... Commander Tano.'

' Hey Cody,' Fulcrum said brightly. ' Hey Wolffe! Hey Kix! Hey Dogma! Hey Fox-'

' Are you going to greet them one by one?' Older-Ezra groaned.

' Yeah. Why not? I have to greet all of my friends! Hey Bly! Hey Gregor!'

' Hey, Commander,' Gregor answered brightly.

Rex bent down, and his gravelly voice dropped to a low whisper, ' General, I just want to let you know that we are really worried about Ben. Please do your best to rescue him.'

' Of course I would!' Anakin exclaimed. ' He's my grandson.'

' I know, Sir,' Cody nodded. ' We wish we could help.'

' Leia will be planning on how to get him out,' Fulcrum said. ' I'll ask if she can put you guys into her plan as well.'

' Thank you Sir,' Wolffe said brightly. ' We'll get going then. We have to finish our dinner quickly and go to have a meeting with Lieutenant Draya.' They bowed slightly, and left to find a table.

' I wonder what is Older-me doing right now,' Caleb said thoughtfully. ' Kylo should have woken up from his _slumber_ by now.'

' Let's find out when we finish our dinner,' Ahsoka emptied her bowl.

* * *

There was a green and golden bird in his vision.

It was hovering delicately right in front of him, hooting softly to catch his attention. Instinctively, Kylo held out his arm and let the bird rest on it. The bird ruffled its feathers, and at the same time, more mint green light engulfed him.

He gasped and sat up abruptly. The light and the bird were gone, and he was lying on a bed in a gloomy room. He squinted, and assessed the environment around him. In the dim light, he spotted someone sitting at a table. The person was eating, with a bored expression though, and with his arms propped onto the table.

Hmm. He looked like Caleb. Only his face sported faint battle scars, and he had this very prominent looking beard.

He coughed loudly to get the man's attention.

The man immediately tossed away his fork, and hurried over to check on him, ' Oh hey, you're awake? You have been unconscious for so long. Man, I was planning to send you to the healers' after I finish my meal. How are you feeling? You know what's going on, right?'

Kylo was slightly overwhelmed by the flurry of questions, and he just blinked at the man as response.

' Right,' The man tapped on his forehead. ' I almost forgot. My name is Kanan Jarrus, formerly known as Caleb Dume. You may or may not remember me from your childhood, but I am, well, used to be part of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order.'

' I do, yes,' Kylo said quietly.

Kanan paused for a moment, before saying, ' I know, it's a sore subject. Are you hungry? Do I need to send for any food from the kitchens?' Kylo shook his head.

' No? In that case, I had better call up Luke,' Kanan brushed up his sleeve to reveal his wrist com.

' Do I have to see my Uncle?' Kylo said, terrified at the very thought. Even though he was starting to embrace the Light Side again, he still wasn't ready to see his Uncle again. His Uncle must be extremely furious and disappointed at him for destroying everything he had worked so hard on creating.

' You have to,' Kanan said. ' Leia wants to see you as well.'

' Oh, no,' He groaned. He knew his mother went at great lengths to get him back to the Light. But he knew even motherly love had its limits. He had no idea whether his mother would be that forgiving and loving after he had brutally murdered his father in front of Rey, Finn and Chewbacca. Oh, he also hated to know what would happen to him if Chewbacca saw him. Strangled to death, perhaps.

' They want to see you,' Kanan said again, gently. ' You'll be fine. I promise.'

He nodded jerkily, and allowed Kanan to comm Luke.

 **Thanks for reading, lol. XD Ezra has fans...**

 **I've been binge-watching Korean drama these few days, thanks to my classmates (*cough*) for influencing me. I'm slightly emotionally drained from the 'angsty' open-endings (especially in the drama 'Scarlet Heart Ryeo'), but I keep telling myself that I am fine and the ending is not the worst, since the ending of Twilight of the Apprentice totally left me drained and depressed for months, and I was sitting there, pondering over the meaning of life when the SWR logo finally popped up at the end. XD This explains why I recovered in a few days, while my friends were still crying buckets of tears and getting the feeeeeels. :DDDDD**

 **So excited for the new SWR episode! Whoohoo!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Tada, here we go. Just a reminder, I am absolutely HORRIBLE at writing angst and sad stuff. So please please please don't mind if things are too cheesy, or cliche, because I totally suck at writing these type of stuff. :/ Anyways, yeah.**

Kylo was almost certain that his Uncle and mother would kill him, shout at him, or at least sell him off to some hungry Hutts as a slave when they saw him. But no. Instead, his mother seized him and sized him out once he stepped into her quarters, and demanded whether he ate enough. Despite his feeble protests, she asked for a light meal to be sent up to her quarters.

Afterwards, he just stood there, his feet rooted to the ground and his head bowed down. He didn't dare to look up. He didn't want to see the disappointed looks on their faces. He probably wouldn't survive with the guilt clawing away at his chest.

' Ben,' His mother started to say. ' I'm so happy to see you again.'

He blinked for several times, puzzled. What? No screaming and kicking? No threats?

For the first time since he entered the quarters, he lifted his head to see his mother and uncle.

His mother had aged since he last saw her. Her brown hair was peppered with silver and white, but was still arranged around her head in an elaborate braided hairstyle, befitting for a General and a Senator. The aura of authority and elegance still surrounded her whenever she moved.

His uncle had changed the most. His golden brown hair was mostly white now, and he sported a beard. Gone was his youthful, happy look, instead, he looked rather weathered and seemed like he was tired of action. Kylo thought stoically, he could have easily beaten him if he really tried to.

' I almost forgot how you used to look like, with the Padawan braid,' Luke smiled.

He cocked his head to the side, still baffled. It was like they were talking in an alien language. He simply didn't understand. What had changed? Had something happened while he was away? Still, that didn't explain their behaviours towards him.

' General Organa,' He decided to speak in a stiff and professional tone (yup, he got it from Hux). ' I don't deserve to be called your son. Master Skywalker, I don't deserve to be called your nephew. I have wronged you both and the entire Resistance. I should be trialled for treason.'

' Ben, why would you say that?' Leia sighed, placing a hand on his arm. ' I know you didn't mean it. Snoke did this to you.'

' No, it was my choice. I chose to walk down this path,' Kylo said. ' It was entirely my fault. Everyone is dead because of me.'

' I would never blame you, Ben,' Luke said. ' It was my fault. I did this.'

' No,' Kylo sniffled. ' I killed Dad, remember? You should hate me for this.'

' Your father has forgiven you,' Leia assured him. ' Can't you see? He's trying to bring you back to the Light Side. Now you're back. He can't be any prouder or happier with you. All you need to do is to trust us. Trust in the Light Side of the Force. Work with the Jedi again, okay?' She embraced her son.

They were both crying, while Luke stood there solemnly.

' I'm sorry, mom,' He sobbed into her sho- Manage Storiesulder.

' I'll always forgive you, Ben,' Leia said, patting him lightly on the shoulder, like how she used to when he was still a little kid.

This gesture wasn't much, but this definitely provided the healing and comfort Kylo needed.

* * *

Next morning, almost everyone noticed how puffy and red Kylo's eyes were, but none of them knew better than to make a comment about it.

Caleb greeted him brightly, and he greeted him back quietly.

After breakfast, Rey, who had been avoiding his gaze for the past hour, decisively pulled him to a deserted corridor and crossed her arms, ' So. You're back, huh?'

Kylo nodded jerkily. He pretended not to notice the menacing-looking double-bladed saber hanging on her belt. When did she build one?

' Look,' She said with much difficulty. ' I'm glad to know that you are trying to get back to the Light. But frankly, I'm not really sure whether I should trust you.' The suspicious and accusing gleam in her eyes was rather hard to miss, and Kylo didn't blame her. After all, he had killed the father she had never had the chance to know right in front of her.

He nodded.

She sighed and closed her eyes, ' Not to be harsh and no offence, but Poe, Finn and I are not as forgiving as Mom and my Master. It's extremely hard for me to accept you as my brother after all the interrogating and killing and stuff. As for Poe and Finn, they're still recovering from the trauma they got from the battle. They nearly died.'

' I understand,' He said quietly.

She softened, just a bit, ' Look. If you really want to gain our trust, you had better start by proving yourself. Help with finding Ben.'

' That's what I'm intending to do,' He said.

' Good,' She nodded curtly. ' Prove yourself then.'

* * *

Ezra and Older-Ezra settled at the side of the base garden, far away from the noise and working area. Poe was giving the newcomers a tour around the base, and Ezra thought he would pass. So, Older-Ezra took him to the gardens, where they could chat about everything in peace.

' So, you are the Hottest Jedi, huh?' Older-Ezra smirked.

Ezra groaned, ' Please don't even bring it up. This has caused me trouble for such a loooooong time.'

' Sorry,' Older-Ezra winked. ' Surprised to know about this world?'

' I was,' Ezra picked at the flowers. ' But now I think about it, this provides explanation to why Master Caleb was so intent on picking me as his apprentice. He could have chosen some others, you know. There were so many talented young initiates in my year. I wasn't the best choice.'

' Oooh, what happened?' Older-Ezra asked. ' Tell me more.'

' When I was a baby, my parents brought me to the Jedi Temple to be trained. Even though Master Caleb was supposed to focus on his studies for the important Trial of Knighthood, he often volunteered to help at the creche. I was curious back then as to why he seemed to have interest on me. When he was finally made a Knight, he went against the Council by ditching his solo missions and spent even more time to help me with my initiate trials in secret. In an Initiate Tournament, he announced loudly to everyone that he would take me as his Padawan,' Ezra reminisced. ' I could still remember the shocked faces of my clan mates. They didn't expect Master Caleb, who was one of the most promising Jedi Knights after Master Skywalker, Ahsoka and Kenobi, to take me as his apprentice. They thought I was going to be Master Jocasta's Padawan or sent to the Agri Corps.'

' He recognised your talent of course,' Older-Ezra smiled.

' Well, when I asked him about it, he used to answer, " It's the will of the Force. The Force told me to pick you, so that was what I did." Now I think about it, it makes so much sense.'

' I bet he's an interesting Master,' Older-Ezra mused.

Ezra laughed, ' He is. Master Windu used to be so angry and annoyed at us. He would sneak me out of classes and show me the secret vent passageways of the Temple. One time, he took me out for a spin with the Ghost Crew to visit my parents when I was supposed to be in a visit to the Senate. Master Windu was intent on punishing both of us, but Ahsoka and Master Billaba convinced him not to. Though, he revoked our driving license for two months. His teaching methods can be unorthodox and unique, but I successfully graduated to Knighthood as the top of my class. And I can never forget the look on Windu's face when Caleb was elected to succeed his position as the Head of the Jedi Council.'

Older-Ezra sighed, ' Kanan would never do that. He insists on discipline, hard work and perseverance all the time. I can never keep my toe out of line without him glaring down at me! Funny how the same person can turn out to be so different, huh?'

Ezra was about to reply, when a woman's voice interrupted them, ' Are you two going to stay here forever? General Leia is asking for your presences at the war room.'

They looked up immediately to find a woman, dressed from head to toe in multi-coloured Mandalorian armour. Ezra made a funny noise at the back of his throat, like the sound when someone choked on food. It reminded him of the time when he choked on caramel candy at Luke and Leia's graduation party. It was awfully embarrassing. Hera and Sabine almost laughed their heads off.

The woman's armour was spray painted in various shades of pink and purple, and the golden yellow crest of the Resistance stood out proudly on her chest plate.

' Sabine!' Older-Ezra grinned broadly.

Ezra made an odd choking noise.

This Sabine took off her helmet, and ran a hand through her hair, which was dyed aqua and lilac. Completely ignoring Ezra's bewildered look, he gave her husband an affectionate peck on his cheek. At this point, Ezra's eyes were as wide as saucers.

' Oh look here,' She winked at Ezra. ' That's you? He looks cute.'

' Er, yeah,' Older-Ezra cleared his throat. ' We'll be coming in just a minute.'

' Sure, I'll tell Leia,' She nodded, gave Ezra another light-hearted wink, and walked back into the base with her helmet clamped under her arm.

Older-Ezra watched Ezra's expression closely, ' Well, I'm sure you know her at your time. She's Sabine Wren, my wife.'

' WIFE?!' Ezra repeated.

' Mmm, yes?' Older-Ezra said.

' You are married to Sabine?!' He gaped at him.

' Uhhh, yeah?' Older-Ezra tilted his head. ' Ohhh, right. You aren't married in your time. Caleb has told me all about it.'

' He told you about what?' He demanded.

Older-Ezra stood up, and smoothed out his robes, ' Stuff. We have to go now. Leia is waiting. We wouldn't want to be late to the meeting.'

Ezra scrambled up frantically to catch up with him, ' Oi! You're ignoring my question.'

Older-Ezra hid his smirk and continued walking.

* * *

Leia gestured vaguely to the large blue holo in front of her, ' Here are all the profiles of our secret spies in the First Order. I have been making contact with the supervisors of the Alpha and Beta agents, and none of their superiors have mentioned to them where Ben is kept. They will keep trying to dig up some information. And also, I was having a conversation with the Theta agents this morning, but our connection was suddenly broken, so I'll have to rely on the Fulcrum agents to find them. Our best hope lies on them.'

Anakin whispered to Kanan in confusion, ' Alpha and Beta agents? Theta agents? Fulcrum? What are those?'

' Those are our well-trained agents and spies,' Kanan explained. ' They are divided into different ranks. Alpha agents work in the military, Beta agents are the technicians. Theta are the ruling officers. Fulcrum agents are the central units. They do all the contacting and encryption of communication. More like a band of hackers. Ooh yeah, Ahsoka is the supervisor of the Fulcrum agents.'

Fulcrum nodded in understanding, ' I received an encrypted transmission from one of the Fulcrum agents just earlier. He told me there has been technical issues with the Theta agents' code transmitter. They are working on it as we speak.'

' Wow, alien language,' Caleb muttered under his breath. ' I understand none of it!'

' Good,' Leia said. ' Meanwhile, I've come up with a backup plan, just in case. We are to infiltrate the First Order.'

' I thought we have a lot of agents in the First Order already,' Older-Ezra commented. ' Can't they do the work for us?'

' Yeah, but this time, we are sending in Jedi,' Luke said. ' There's a higher chance of success, and we can deliver a fatal blow to the centre of the First Order. Snoke won't know what hit him.'

There was murmuring of consent.

' So who's going?' Ahsoka asked.

' Anakin should go,' Caleb said.

' Wait, what?' Anakin shouted in protest.

' No, he'll be recognised,' Leia shook her head. ' Imagine if the First Order finds out... Darth Vader is alive. We'll be doomed for sure.'

' Oh yeah,' Caleb said. ' What about Kanan and Ezra? They could go.'

' No, they've been active in campaigns and raids in the times of the Empire. They'll be on the First Order's wanted list and they'll be spotted the moment they set foot on their base,' Luke shuddered. ' The same reason goes to Ahsoka and the others. That is why, the mission will fall to Caleb and young Ezra instead.'

' Thanks, I-' Caleb realised what Luke was talking about. ' Wait. What?! Why?'

' Because you two are the only qualifying ones for the mission,' Fulcrum explained. ' You two basically look different to your counterparts, so no one will suspect about this. You can pass the security checks without a problem, since they don't have your identities in their system. We can simply forge fake identities for you.'

' Yes,' Leia said. ' Before I lost contact with the Theta supervisor yesterday, she has assured me that she had created two profiles for you two.' She pressed a button, and Kanan and Ezras' figures appeared on the holo, complete with fake names and details.

' Okay,' Ezra said, seemingly unfazed by the sudden mission. ' What do we have to do?'

 **Hellooooooo! XDDDDD**

 **Ahhhh Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them is out! And I still haven't had the chance to see it! :(((((((((((((**

 **Here's the Me and Star Wars part... Based on my reaction the day after I realised there's not going to be an episode on last Saturday. :/**

 **Me: Eurrgh. I feel horrible.**

 **Friend: What happened lol**

 **Me: There wasn't a SWR episode last Saturday. Now I feel empty inside.**

 **Friend: Well, it's just for a week. You can wait and you'll get a brand new episode next weekend.**

 **Me: You don't understand! I have been working so hard last week just to watch SWR on the weekend! It's like my beacon of hope was missing!**

 **Friend: Oooookay.**

 **Me: SWR keeps me alive. Now I feel so empty.**

 **Friend: Oooookay.**


	27. Chapter 27

' Fake identities? What fake identities?' Caleb asked loudly.

Fulcrum groaned, ' The Thetas are extremely thoughtful. They've managed to create fake identities for you so that you can pass into the First Order without anyone suspecting a thing.'

Leia pressed another button, and two booklets shot out from the slot of the machine. ' These are your identity holders. They bear the crest and official microchip of the First Order, so it will definitely pass the security check,' Leia handed it to Caleb and Ezra. ' So don't lose it.'

Caleb gingerly opened his booklet, gazed upon the name of his fake identity and shrieked in terror, ' What the heck? Why am I called Wilfred Tarkin? Don't tell me I am actually related to Wilhuff Tarkin! I strongly dislike him!' That one time Tarkin openly insulted him in front of many new cadets (he didn't have a good impress of him at first), and ever since that, he fumed whenever the man's name was mentioned.

' Because, the original Wilhuff Tarkin had a son,' Luke said. ' Who was thought to be killed in an explosion. He was a tactical prodigy, probably one of the best to ever walk upon the galaxy. But in fact, he was so fed up with the Empire, he faked his own death and defected from the Empire along with his entire family. Supposedly, no one knows where his family ended up at, but we know better. His son has kindly allowed us to use his young son, Fred's identity. I'm sorry that you have to impersonate his grandson, but once you get to know Fred, you'll actually be surprised by how nice he is. '

' Ew,' Ahsoka wrinkled her nose. ' Tarkin had a wife? Who would marry him?'

Leia said with equal distaste, ' If I remember correctly, it was an politically arranged marriage. It was some rich Senator's daughter, I think. I saw her a couple times along with Wilfred in banquets and I never really liked them. Both of them seemed pompous. But who knew Wilfred would actually throw away his prominent status in the Empire and run to us.'

Caleb pointed at Ezra's booklet, ' Oi! His name is alright!' Ezra's booklet read ' Travis Willows'. The name had belonged to the ambitious son of a trade merchant on a distant moon.

' Because, we only had two official identities at the time!' Leia snapped, her patience wearing thin. ' Now quit whining and start reading the information! We don't have much time.'

Printed in neat font on the booklets, were meticulous details of their fake lives and what to answer when someone asked about their 'parentages'.

' Who made up these stories?' Ezra flipped to through the booklet in awe. ' Wow. Favourite food, parents' occupations, favourite colour!'

' The Theta agents,' Leia said. ' They are extremely good at making up stuff. They do not tolerate mistakes, so rest assured, their information are highly accurate and credible. They research, research and research, snitch for information from local data banks if necessary, until they can fabricate a flawless story. Remember the last time when Rex and the others infiltrated the Base as Stormtroopers? They did so perfectly.'

' But wouldn't they doubt their identities when they left?' Older-Ezra questioned out loud. ' I mean, they literally deserted the place all at once. This sounds _slightly_ fishy.'

' Ah yes,' Leia sounded pleased. ' The Theta agents created a perfect backstory to explain their desertion. No one ever questioned or doubted it. Not even the higher officials, according to our spies.'

Caleb said, ' Well that's impressive. I feel slightly safer.'

' Of course you should feel safe,' Anakin said. ' You share the name of one fervent Empire worshipper who died as a loyal Imperial. Seriously, what could go wrong?' Caleb glared reproachfully at him.

On the cue, Fulcrum's pocket holotransmitter beeped loudly, in a bizarre, unknown frequency. Everyone's attention turned towards the woman, curious at what kind of message she would receive. Older members all knew that Fulcrum had programmed her transmitter to project weird frequencies to warn her about incoming, encrypted transmissions. Those were mostly confidential, and she would often excuse herself to decode the messages in peace.

' Excuse me for a moment,' She said, and exited the room briskly.

' I wonder what all of that is about,' Luke wondered. ' I hope it's not something bad.'

* * *

Fulcrum shut herself in an empty conference room, and tapped in her passcode to open the encrypted message. A series of coded language, only known to the Theta agents, popped up and she frowned. The code looked horrendously complicated. But she set to work anyways.

After a couple trials and errors, she managed to crack open the message file. As expected, it was a pre-recorded audio message. Once she pushed in another code to initialise it, the trademark symbol of the Theta supervisor cropped up with a small 'ping'. As expected, his or her voice was transformed using a voice scrambler.

' _Attention, Fulcrum. Our base is currently under attack. I repeat, our base is under attack. The First Order has placed troops all around our premises, and they are sending in men to hunt down my fellow agents. We have retreated to the secret area of our base, but I don't think we can hold on for any longer. Apparently, they have two Star Destroyers hovering over the planet, and around thirty gunships around the area, filled with backup troops. Send help immediately. I'll be sending in the coordinates to our planet shortly. Theta, out.'_

Almost immediately after the raspy message ended, a series of number popped up on her screen.

Fulcrum's eyes widened after receiving the coordinates. The Theta agents were a secretive bunch. They would never disclose their whereabouts or identities to anyone except for the High Generals, unless they were really in serious trouble.

Without hesitation, she recorded a message with the help of her pocket voice scrambler, ' Got your message, Theta. We will be sending in our people as soon as possible. Try to stay out of the First Order's sight, and try to keep the important information and documents safe. Fulcrum, out.'

Seconds later, a text message popped up. _Thank you. I'll try to contact you on further details of our whereabouts._

She dashed out of the room, thinking, _oh well. Another mission for me, I guess. Time to report to the officials._

* * *

The coordinates of the base floated in front of everyone. Fulcrum finished her lengthy report, and stepped back from the holoprojector to wait for everyone's response.

More people were invited to this meeting, as the outcome of this attack would most likely affect all of them. And all of them were frowning in dismay at the piece of news. If the supervisor of the Theta agents was captured or any of the information landed in the wrong hands, the Resistance would suffer a bitter strike against their ranks. All of their spies' covers would be blown, and there would be no saying in what would happen to them.

' I knew something was wrong,' Leia muttered. ' We have to send for a rescue team. Fulcrum, would you mind leading the mission? Please? Just for once?'

' Fine,' Fulcrum said. Leia smiled, pleased.

Finn squinted at the coordinates, and his eyes widened, ' Dathomir.'

' Excuse me?' Leia asked, looking up at him.

Finn repeated, ' Dathomir. The coordinates. The base is on Dathomir.' Then he blushed and added hurriedly, ' Uhhh. I might be wrong. You had better check with the system.'

Raising an eyebrow, Leia punched the coordinates into a pocket navicomputer, and she nodded at all of them, ' Yep. It's Dathomir.'

There was an intake of breath around the room at the mention of the planet. None of them looked pleased.

Poe exclaimed, completely oblivious of the officials' uneasiness, ' Cool! You could remember what coordinates are?'

Finn smiled weakly, ' Yeah. We were all expected to learn about the coordinates, hyperspace routes and places of the galaxy in, uh, early Stormtrooper training. We had to memorise most of them.'

At the far side of the meeting room, Wedge Antilles complained, ' Of all the planets in the galaxy, they had to choose to place their base Dathomir! That planet is strange and horrible, I tell you. Nothing good happens to anyone who sets foot on it.'

' How so?' Rey asked interestedly.

' The planet used to house the Nightsisters' fortress, long before the Empire,' Fulcrum said, who was all too familiar with the history of Dathomir thanks to her years on Malachor. ' The Nightsisters drew in the power source of the planet's core to conjure all kinds of magic. Necromancy, healing and many more. Most of them were massacred in a battle against Count Dooku, and the fortress was abandoned ever since.'

' As this mission requires extended knowledge of, um, supernatural stuff and sorcery, Fulcrum should be the leader,' Leia peered at all of them. Everyone murmured in agreement.

' Still you should bring along some more help as well,' Ackbar advised. ' I just received report from the clones. They are willing to provide ground support.'

' Well, then both of them will come along with me,' Fulcrum seized Anakin and Ahsoka by the arms, who nearly jumped in surprise.

' What?' Anakin demanded.

Fulcrum whispered, ' I need someone who is familiar with _supernatural stuff and sorcery._ We have done this before. Mortis, remember that?'

' Fine,' Ahsoka said. ' I'll do it.'

' I'm not so sure about it,' Anakin whispered. ' That last time, we tried killing each other and almost died.' But he buckled at the identical glares coming from the two Ahsokas.

' Fine!' He threw up his hands as a sign of defeat. ' I'll do it too.'

Luke suggested, ' They need air backup. Wedge, do you mind leading the air support as secondary commanding officer?'

Wedge paled, ' Er... Can I not?'

Luke sighed, ' Probably not. We need a military officer who is... Pretty much used to weird Jedi stuff and knows what to do even under... Strange circumstances.'

' Oh, don't you worry. I have someone in mind,' Leia said brightly. ' Someone... Who's seen enough _Force things_ in her years of service to the Rebellion to freak out.'

' Who?' Caleb asked excitedly.

Leia smiled, ' You'll know, eventually. For now, let me contact her.'

* * *

Ice cold water splashed on Ben's face. He spluttered and coughed at the sudden coldness.

He opened his eyes for the first time, blinking hazily in confusion. What had happened? Wasn't he supposed to be on the battlefield with Poe and the others?

Now... He was tied up in an... Interrogation room? He jolted in alarm, only to realise that his arms and legs were pinned firmly in place by strong cuffs that sizzled with energy. Standing at the interrogation table's sides, were two Stormtroopers, who were heavily armed with dangerous looking rifles.

One of them must have noticed that he was awake, because he stoically stepped forward to turn on the holotransmittor right in front of him. Immediately, the holographic figure of Supreme Leader Snoke appeared. He was reclining on a simple stone throne, regarding Ben almost lazily. The Stormtroopers scrambled around frantically and bowed so low at him that their helmets were almost tipping over.

' Ah, my boy,' He grinned. ' How are you doing?'

' Snoke,' Ben spat in disgust.

' I'm interested,' He leered forward. ' How come you are Ben Solo once again? How did you do that?'

' None of your business,' Ben snapped. ' What do you even want with me?'

' I lost my apprentice,' Snoke spoke softly, as if he was talking to a young child. ' It's only right for me to get myself another one.'

' Me?' Ben laughed. ' I would never be your apprentice.'

' We'll see,' Snoke cackled. ' We'll see.' He nodded at the Stormtroopers' direction. They pressed a button right below the table, releasing torrents of electricity on Ben.

He screamed and screamed and screamed, until he finally went limp on the interrogation table.

 **Ah, I haven't forgotten good old Ben. :P**

 **This chapter is kinda short. Sorry about that. :PPPP**


	28. Chapter 28

The hangar was buzzing in excitement, as the armies loaded their supplies to aid with the mission. The others, including the clones busied themselves with helping them. R2 excitedly zoomed around people's ankles. He was delighted that he was able to go on a mission with his old Master and Snips, well, two Snips, just like the old times.

Fulcrum stood on top of the balcony, acting as the commander of the mission and giving commands. Gone was her initial snippiness or arrogance when she led missions, and she held herself with the suitable amount of confidence and in an authoritative way, that she almost resembled Anakin when he was a General back in the war. Well, maybe minus the cockiness.

' Snips is just like a General,' Anakin praised, helping Rex with loading canons onto a cruiser. ' She has come so far.'

Rex smiled, taking a box from Cody, ' Indeed. She has grown to be just like you.'

Wolffe pointed out, ' It's a miracle she actually agreed to leading this mission.'

' She can't let any of her fellow agents get into trouble, so naturally she has to agree it,' Kix chuckled, hauling a medical kit over his shoulder.

' What? Why isn't she promoted to Commander or General?' Anakin huffed. ' I mean, Snips is too good to just be a supervisor and not a leader.'

' Well, General Organa wanted to promote her to the position of High Commander back when we were fighting against the Empire,' Rex explained. ' But she declined and said she was perfectly content with being a Rebel informant, so the General gave the position away to Commander Sato instead. Thrice she has been offered the position, thrice she refused it. What a shame.'

Anakin sighed wistfully, ' I would have wanted to see her as a General.'

' Oh?' Fox asked. ' I thought your Ahsoka fought the remaining war as a Jedi at your place?'

' We ended the war quickly, so Master Windu only granted her the position of Temporary Commander, alongside Appo,' Anakin said. ' He was promoted to the rank of Commander because of his efforts in war, shortly after Ahsoka left.'

' Yes, I remember. He was so excited about it,' Cody murmured, then he spoke up, ' Oi, Commander, we are done over here.'

' Good job, guys,' Fulcrum said, nodding approvingly, and she stared off at the distance. ' We are all set. Now, we just need to wait for someone.' She Force-jumped down the commander's platform, and landed gracefully next to Caleb and the others, who were relaxing on the crates.

' Someone? You are waiting for the secondary commanding officer?' Older-Ezra asked.

' Yep,' Fulcrum nodded.

' Who?' Caleb asked eagerly. ' Who's that?'

Fulcrum smiled, ' You'll see. Ah. Here she comes.'

Striding towards them, was Hera Syndulla. She was dressed in the standard uniform of military officers, only her insignia plaque showed her high rank as honorary military General.

' Hera Syndulla, reporting for duty,' She saluted at Fulcrum, ignoring the wide-eyed gapes from her friends, and of course, Caleb.

' There's no need for that,' Fulcrum said heartily. ' We're friends, aren't we, Hera?'

' Right you are, Ahsoka,' Hera chuckled, fixing her insignia plaque, which was slightly lopsided. Sabine and Zeb wanted to tag along as well, but they have an important errand to complete. But Chopper will be coming along.' She eyed at the pesky orange droid at her side. ' Chopper will try _not to_ pick a fight with R2.'

Chopper warbled in protest, _I won't if R2 doesn't irritate me._

Behind Anakin, R2 beeped rudely, _what?! You just have to tag along. Get lost, you! Stop ruining my mission with Master Anakin and Snips._

' Oh, knock it off, both of you. R2 hasn't been that aggressive towards a droid since 3PO nearly knocked him off a bridge,' Anakin sighed, trying to keep R2 behind him, in case the two droids decided to roll forward and reduce each other to heaps of scrap metal. He also didn't like the idea of R2 using his newly rebuilt rocket boosters at Chopper (he had recently repaired R2's broken ones and cleaned his servos, much to his delight).

At the side, Kanan goggled at his wife, ' You didn't tell me you are joining that mission!'

Hera shrugged, ' Leia just rang me up a while ago and told me that " a military officer with high tolerance of supernatural Jedi events is needed". So here I am. I've been dealing with you two's crazy Jedi stuff for half of my life. Maul, Inquisitors, Maul, Inquisitors, crazy holocrons, gloomy Temples and talking mists. I can handle Dathomir.'

' But Dathomir is dangerous,' Kanan fretted. ' You haven't seen anything like it.'

' I'll be fine,' Hera said. ' Besides, I've got Anakin Skywalker and _two_ Ahsokas with me. What could possibly go wrong?' Chopper beeped indignantly. ' Yes. And Chopper too.'

Kanan sighed, ' Look, I don't like this. But since you're insisting... Well, I guess I have to let you go. Just this once.'

' Right, I'll be back before you know it, honey,' Hera winked. ' Excuse me for a moment. I will prep the Ghost. I assume all of you will be travelling on the Ghost?'

' Yep. We'll be taking the Phantom down there once we arrive, if you don't mind,' Fulcrum said.

Hera laughed, ' Of course. Just be sure not to wreck that ship. Sabine has just repainted it.'

' Of course not,' Ahsoka assured her.

' Wow,' Caleb said, watching Hera's retreating back. ' I didn't know my wife- I mean, your wife's a General here.'

' An excellent one too,' Older-Ezra remarked. ' Once, she was ambushed by an entire First Order fleet on a small supply run. But she managed to outfly all of the TIE fighters, and even shot down the Star Destroyer before reinforcements came. By the time we jumped out of hyperspace, all we saw was a smoking and completely destroyed Star Destroyer breaking down in mid air, while the Ghost was just calmly zooming above the wreckage.'

' Cool!' Ezra's eyes sparkled. ' This totally reminds me of the time when Hondo Ohnaka-'

' Oh man, you know Hondo?' Kanan asked with a grimace. ' Don't even go into it. I've had enough of that guy. That time, just because of some stupid profit, we nearly crashed the Ghost.'

Older-Ezra argued, ' That wasn't my fault! At least we managed to escape the Imperials. And we managed to sell the cargo. We made some profit!' Kanan glowered at him.

' Okay, that's quite enough,' Ahsoka pulling the two apart. ' You are starting to act like Chopper and Artooie.'

All the way across the hangar, Hera peeked out of her ship, ' Er, guys? I can hear you all the way from here. Please try not to kill or bicker with each other when I'm away. I won't be here to pull the two of you apart. I'm all set. Just give your command, and we can leave this place.'

Fulcrum called out into the air, ' Okay boys, listen up! We'll be leaving for Dathomir now. Just follow the Ghost and time your jumps to the hyperspace. We must not delay our mission any further.'

Loud cheers of encouragement rang throughout the hangar bay, as pilots started to jump into their own X-Wings and escorts began to power up the engine of their cruisers.

They jumped onto the ramp of the Ghost. Caleb cried out, ' May the Force be with you all!' just before the ramp closed. And they left the safety of the base, into the war zone.

Anakin felt slightly nostalgic. Not that he actually wanted to have a war back at home again, he did miss the thrill of it. Jumping and dodging red blaster bolts, and slicing down battle droids was satisfying and exciting, in a strange way.

He watched as Chopper plugged itself to a terminal and made the necessary preparations for the jump to hyperspace.

R2 complained to Anakin, _he isn't do it right!_

 _Shut up,_ Chopper fired back. _You are stupid._

' Calm down, Artooie!' Ahsoka ushered R2 away. ' I was actually hoping that the both of them aren't enemies here.'

' Oh boy,' Hera groaned, pulling down the lever and they shot into hyperspace. ' Their rivalry exists in all timelines? We had better separate them, lest they tear up the entire ship. Chopper and I can manage. How about you take R2 with you and take a rest at the lounge? You could have a go at the holo chess, but I highly doubt you would.'

' Wonderful idea,' Anakin gritted his teeth, and half dragged R2 away. ' Now don't you dare use your boosters on me, buddy! I built them for you.'

R2 beeped out a loud and rather rude insult at Chopper. He had probably picked up some swear words from all of his masters or even Han. Up to this moment, R2 was adept at swearing in Binary, Basic, Mandalorian, Shyriiwook, Togrutan and Huttese.

' R2!'

R2 gave Anakin a low, reproachful whistle, and rolled away haughtily on his own, with the three Jedi hot on his heels, er, wheels.

Once they reached the lounge, R2 plugged himself to the holo chess game board, and began going through all possible moves and combinations. They sat down around the game board, watching R2 play against an imaginary opponent in silence.

At the end of R2's fourth game, Fulcrum cleared her throat, ' Artooie, would you mind pausing the game just for a minute? Thanks a lot.' She pulled out a small microchip from a secret compartment of her arm guards.

' What's that?' Ahsoka sat up straight.

' The Theta has just sent me the plan of their base,' Fulcrum said, plugging it into R2's computer terminal. ' We were right. They're using the abandoned fortress of the Nighsisters as their base.'

' Ugh,' Anakin shuddered, as R2 tilted himself and displayed the image of the fortress, complete with the strange poison green lakes and depressing black towers.

' It is actually a good thing,' Ahsoka commented. ' Those Stormtroopers aren't Force-sensitive, are they? I don't think they have the guts to just storm the place without any additional protection. It gives us an advantage.'

' Yeah,' Fulcrum walked around the holo and muttered to herself. ' But it won't be easy. The fortress is specifically designed like a labyrinth to confuse intruders. It won't be easy to get in there in the dark, but I believe I can find a way through it. If I can travel through the Malachor Temple in the dark, I can get through Dathomir without a problem. Wait, I can plot a path just around this juncture-'

' HOLD ON!' Anakin shouted. ' What... Malachor? What are you doing on Malachor again?'

' Malachor?!' Ahsoka repeated in horror. She had learnt all about this Sith planet in her former Padawan studies, and she would never imagine that anyone could manage to step off the planet alive.

' Oh boy,' Fulcrum said, waving them off. ' It was nothing, really. It is kinda similar to Mortis, so no problem.'

' _Ahsoka_ ,' Anakin growled, getting impatient.

' Fine. Let me be blunt. I was living on Malachor from the year Kylo was born until recently. Rey and Ben brought me back.'

' Oh Force!' Anakin was literally shaking. ' You told me you wouldn't go near the planet ever again! You promised me!'

' Oh. Did I?' Fulcrum asked innocently.

Anakin balled his hands into fists, ' You did! Don't pretend you didn't! Why didn't you tell me you returned from this hell of a place?'

' You... Never asked?' Fulcrum suggested with a sweet little smile. ' Look, Skyguy. Malachor isn't as terrible as the Jedi used to tell us. If we learn to overcome our fears, it will just be like any normal planet. Hmm... Only that it's a little dark. I just keep on telling myself there's only the force, and everything will be fine. Besides, I am... 60 something years old already? Sorry. I lost count. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much.'

' You are- Right!' Anakin shook his head, momentarily forgetting about his anger and shock. ' I have been meaning to ask you. How the heck are you looking so young when you are supposed to be 60 something years old?'

' Ooh. Because... I kinda stopped ageing on Malachor?' Fulcrum smiled with a light shake of her head. ' Time is different on Malachor. Sometimes, a day on Malachor is like two years in the galaxy. It was just like Mortis. Remember when we got out of the planet? We were just missing for who knows, a minute? And Rex found us immediately. Let's just forget about Malachor for a second-'

' What-'

' We have a more important task on hand,' Fulcrum turned back to the holo diagram, and pointed at a gloomy looking path just around a dark building. ' Hmm. This looks dangerous. We will be taking this path then.'

' Pardon?' Anakin said in disbelief. ' If that path is dangerous, why in the Force are we still taking it?'

Ahsoka understood at once, ' Because there is less chance of bumping into Stormtroopers. They most probably will not pick this path.'

' Exactly,' Fulcrum said, allowing R2 to zoom closer into the entrance of the said path. ' This was the battlefield of the Separatists and the Nightsisters. If I remember correctly, they used undead Nightsisters to fight for them.'

Anakin froze, ' So you.. Mean to say... We need to walk over the dead bodies of those... creepy Nightsisters?'

' This is the only way, Master,' Ahsoka looked rather revolted as well. ' I know it is creepy and all, but we have to get in without any interference. Hera and the others will take care of them.'

' Thank you Artooie, you can go back to your game,' Fulcrum patted R2's dome gently, allowing the droid to wheel past her.

Ghost-Anakin appeared behind Anakin, ' Whoohoo Snips! Are you leading the mission this time?'

' Yes I am,' Fulcrum said, swatting him away. ' Now go back home and play bingo.'

' I am hurt, Snips!' Ghost-Anakin pretended to dodge her blow. ' Talking to your master like that.'

' You are a ghost,' Fulcrum rolled her eyes at him. ' You can't be hurt.'

Ghost-Anakin pouted in a childish sort of way, and went 'poof'.

The lounge door slid open, and in rolled Chopper.

 _We're about to jump out of hyperspace,_ he informed them with a superior tone. _Hera asked you to get ready._

And he left, pompously.

 _You know what, he reminds me of 3PO,_ R2 complained. _In the worst possible way._ If droids could sound disgusted, R2 most likely was.

Fulcrum stretched her arms and legs, ' Better get prepared. I haven't been in action for a long, long time.'

 **Sorry for the... ahem, uneventful chapter. :PPP In the next chapter, hopefully, there will be some action.**

 **Ahhhhhh I'll be having my mid term exams next week. :(((((( Loads of studying! :(((((( I am watching Clone Wars let off steam, but it's giving me the Skyguy and Snips feels all over again. *sighs***


	29. Chapter 29

**My knowledge of the Nightsisters and Dathomir is limited to Clone Wars episodes. So if I do get something wrong, please understand. Thanks! :)**

Dathomir looked almost as bad as Mortis or Malachor. The sky was a depressing shade of blood red, with clouds the dull colour of iron. The entire planet basically radiated doom, death and misery.

The fleet waited above the planet, far away from the First Order's blockade, which was at the other side of the planet. They took the Phantom and Chopper with them, descended downwards, onto a barren wasteland, just at the side of the Nightsister's fortress. When the ramp dropped down, Anakin breathed in the acidic air, doubled over and coughed.

' This is ghastly,' Ahsoka gagged. ' The Force feels weird here.'

' Of course, Nightsister sorcery clouds everything,' Ahsoka said gloomily, taking in the horizon of the planet.

Fulcrum tossed a comlink at Chopper, ' Keep hold of this. We will call you when we are in trouble or require assistance from the fleet. If the First Order arrives, go ahead and fly the ship. Just give us a call before landing, okay?'

Chopper beeped importantly, agreeing to take up the job and did a little salute. R2 made a sound that sounded like a disdainful snort.

' Come on, Artooie,' Ahsoka said, her Togrutan senses kicking in. ' We must not tarry. I don't like this place.'

' Me neither,' Anakin glanced around him.

' Oh, then you are not going to like where we are heading towards,' Fulcrum said.

' Just lead the way, Snips,' Anakin sighed.

* * *

The history holos did a fantastic job of describing the carnage of the Nightsisters. But the actual thing was much more gruesome and horrendous. Bodies of Nightsisters and crushed battle droids were littered everywhere. It wasn't a pretty sight. The bodies were decayed and hauntingly, some of the dead bodies were still clutching weapons and some of them still had grotesque smiles. Some of them were obviously impaled by lightsabers.

Ahsoka fought down the urge to vomit her lunch. She was rather used to seeing gore or dead bodies from her many years on the battlefield, but this was so different and nightmarish.

R2 squealed in terror, his dome swivelling around rapidly and used his boosters to hover over the carnage.

' Oh, Artooie,' Fulcrum said, unfazed by the sight in front of her (she had seen too much on Malachor). ' They won't kill or do anything to you.'

 _I am not letting them touch my servos,_ he said stubbornly.

' I can clean them for you later,' Ahsoka offered.

 _Nah,_ R2 said.

Anakin knelt down, and picked up the head of a standard battle droid, ' _Roger, roger._ Huh. I haven't seen one of these up close for a long, long time. They keep broken battle droids in the Clone Wars museum, you know.'

Fulcrum raised an eye marking, ' The Clone Wars museum? Seriously? Who's idea was that?'

' Uhhhh, the Senate?' Ahsoka shrugged lightly. ' They keep everything in that museum. Broken remains of astromech droids, Star Destroyers, and even cracked lightsabers from fallen Jedi. Ooh. They somehow managed salvage the scorched remains of General Grievous and kept the bits in a glass case.'

 _Those idiots thought 3PO's broken arm belonged to a secret golden battle droid,_ R2 added drily. _Pah! As if battle droids have golden arms!_

' Well, the only thing that matters is we managed to get it back,' Anakin said, walking on the tip of his toes to avoid trodding on battle droids, which was hard, seeing that he was wearing boots made from thick material. ' And saved us from a splitting headache.'

 _Yah,_ R2 agreed. _I didn't like that red arm._

' Where are we heading towards?' Anakin asked, trying to keep everyone's spirits alive.

' The Hidden Cave,' Fulcrum read from her holoprojector. ' Where the Nighsister Daka used to live in. They have barricaded themselves in, I think. Artooie, show us the map.'

R2 tilted forward and projected a giant blue map. They appeared as a floating red dot on the map.

' We aren't far away from it,' Ahsoka observed. ' But we have to make it to the centre, and go through that... Is that a graveyard?'

 _It sure is,_ R2 said.

They continued to trek past the battlefield, avoiding dead bodies and battle droids alike.

* * *

They walked past the centre of the Nightsister's village, and into the creepier part of the fortress. ' That's where the Nightsisters bury their dead,' Fulcrum said, pointing at the area in front of them.

' Oh yeah,' Ahsoka said. ' The Army of the Dead, is it? They used up all of them for the battle against the Separatists, but they were all destroyed when General Grievous murdered the Nightsister that raised them. Oh look.'

Slashed open pods made from long leaves drooped from curly branches, and flickering orange lanterns casted eery glows on them. Upon looking at the pods, R2 beeped in terror, and hid behind Anakin. And R2 was rarely afraid of anything.

 _Droid killers!_ He complained.

There was less pods at the back of the 'forest', and nestled behind a couple pods, was the cave they were looking for.

' And there's the hidden cave,' Anakin said humourlessly, swatting away a looming branch. ' Looks _very_ hidden to me.'

Fulcrum gave him an irritated glance, ' It is called the Hidden Cave, because only magic can open it.'

' I thought General Grievous blew it open,' Ahsoka scrutinised the cave in front of her. ' Now, how are we going to open it? Wait. How did the Theta people manage to open it in the first place?'

Realisation dawned on Anakin, ' Maybe... One of them is a former Nightsister! Heck, this explains why they have chosen Dathomir to be their base in the first place! This makes so much sense.'

' Yeah yeah. How are we going to open it?' Ahsoka rolled her eyes. ' We could contact the Theta people and ask them to open it for us.'

' No, this is going to take too long,' Fulcrum said. ' I do have a plan.' She placed a hand on the cave and waited.

' Does this even work?' Anakin questioned.

There was a loud rumble inside the cave. Fulcrum immediately retracted her hand as if she had been burned. Glowing golden and green fissures began to bloom over the centre of the rock. Pieces of rock started to break down and fall away, until the rest of the thing collapsed.

' Woah!' Anakin jumped back to avoid a chunk of rock. ' How do you know magic?'

Fulcrum seemed pleased with herself, ' I have learnt some tricks from the Daughter. Glad to know that her tricks also work on other planets not including Malachor.'

' Cool! If Ahsoka has the Daughter's power in here as well, you should teach her,' Anakin poked at Ahsoka's arm. ' That would be

There was a _snap-hiss,_ and the sizzling tip of a crimson lightsaber pointed at her face.

Ahsoka jumped in alarm, and ignited her silvery lightsabers at once.

There was a small laugh, and the lightsaber blade was extinguished. A tall robed figure emerged from the darkness.

Asajj Ventress said, removing the cowl of her robes, ' Well, well, well. Am I glad to see you!'

* * *

Before all three of them could attack her with questions, Ventress took them in, and resealed the cave using Nightsister magic. It was horribly dark and musty instead.

Ventress ignited her lightsaber again, and the entire cave glowed red. Fulcrum squinted in the red light, unable to see anything. ' Mind using a different colour instead?' She asked.

' Be my guest,' Ventress shrugged casually. ' We were actually growing tired of red.'

Fulcrum ignited both her main lightsaber and shotosaber, and the entire cave was bathed in a pleasant, silver-white light. ' Ah, that's better.'

There were at least 20 people inside of the cave. They were huddled at the side of the cave, all wrapped in thick blankets.

' I thought you were dead,' Fulcrum stared at Ventress. ' And you are the Theta supervisor?'

' Yes and no,' Ventress said. ' I'll explain later, but we don't have much time. We'll need to retrieve the information.'

' What? You don't have it?' Fulcrum gasped. ' Where is it then?'

' In the quarters of the late Mother Talzin,' Ventress answered.

' Ohhh great,' Anakin said sarcastically. ' As if we know where it is.'

' Lucky for us, I know where to go,' Fulcrum said. ' We could-'

A loud beep interrupted her sentence.

She answered the comlink, ' Yes Chopper?' There was a series of loud and frantic beeps.

' Oh. That's not good. Retreat to a safe place, and send me the coordinates later. And uhhh no. That would not be necessary. And that is an order, Chopper. Thank you.' She turned back to them, looking grim. ' Chopper told me that the First Order is advancing towards where the Phantom is. It won't take long for them to reach here.'

Ventress said, ' We have to split up. Maybe Skywalker and I can help take the others to the rendezvous point. I know a secret shortcut leading to outside. The two Tanos along with the droid can go and get the information stick.'

' Fair enough,' Ahsoka crossed her arms. ' We have to hurry.'

* * *

The two Ahsokas raced out of the Hidden Cave. The mission was fairly easy. Avoid any Stormtroopers, reach the quarters, download everything into R2 and leave. Both of them were confident that they could finish the mission, so they were rather relaxed and chatted along their way.

' Rex told me this is your first time to accept the rank of Commander,' Ahsoka said casually. ' Why? I thought you would have achieved this rank a long time ago with your powers.'

Fulcrum bit her lip, ' I feel like I am not ready to take up the post again. The title is too burdensome. Being called Commander Tano... just brings back so many... Memories of the people I left behind and failed. Master Obi-wan. Master Plo. Master Yoda. The 501st. The younglings. Even Skyguy. And Padme.'

Ahsoka became quiet. She had almost forgotten. Those people were dead in this timeline. Even though the cheerful Ghost-Anakin always popped up in all kinds of places and made jokes, she had to remind herself twice that he had become a Sith Lord and was now dead.

Back in the time when she first left the Jedi Order, it felt excruciatingly painful to leave everyone she loved behind and it was the worst feeling in the entire world. But after hearing about Order 66, she began to question how Fulcrum managed to stay sane with everyone dying in the Force. And after hearing about Fulcrum's duel against Vader, she was so sure she would rather die than having to endure the pain of seeing the dark version of Anakin trying to kill her.

' Well, it's a huge responsibility,' Ahsoka admitted softly at last. ' It requires a lot of courage to overcome and heal your mental scars. But you are doing just fine, I think.'

' Thanks,' Fulcrum smiled, cutting the door open with her lightsaber. ' Mind helping?'

Ahsoka plunged her lightsaber into the door as well, ' Sure, Commander. Let's grab the data and get going.'

* * *

' Remind me why I'm teaming up with you?' Anakin asked grouchily, holding his buzzing lightsaber close to provide light while ducking some rocks.

' No reason,' Ventress said, climbing up the tunnel skilfully. Behind them, the other agents were pretty good at climbing tunnel as well.

As if reading Anakin's mind, Ventress added, ' I have trained all of my agents.'

They popped out from the secret passage that led to the side of the fortress.

' Yes, we're almost through,' Anakin peeked out. ' Come on.' They climbed out and were just a mile or so away, when they heard the sound in advancing troops. Before they knew it, someone yelled out, ' Blast them!' and red blaster bolts were raining all over them.

' Blast!' Ventress said, igniting her lightsabers. ' Cover the others.'

' So much for not being noticed,' Anakin sighed, and started to deflect the bolts. Fortunately, he wasn't out of practice, and he was still as good at it as ever.

The other agents had blasters with them as well, so they began shooting at the incoming Stormtroopers.

The rumours were true. The Stormtroopers' aim was even worse than battle droids'.

' Ugh,' Ventress grunted, effortlessly lifting a dozen of the Stormtroopers' into the air and started choking them in the air. After rendering them unconscious, she tossed them backwards like rag dolls, causing them to collide with more Stormtroopers.

Anakin winced, and Force-pushed more Stormtroopers, causing confusion amongst their ranks. ' We need to call for reinforcements,' Ventress looked up, releasing another batch of Stormtroopers. ' We are completely surrounded by their forces.'

Anakin tried to access his comlink, but only buzzing noises came out of it. ' Blast! They have jammed our communications! There's no way I can contact Hera or Ahsoka.'

 **Sighs. I just finished my math exam and it was _horrible._ I'm so doomed.** **:/**

 **But... MY FRIENDS AND I ARE GOING TO WATCH ROGUE ONE NEXT WEEK AFTER OUR EXAMS ON THURSDAY! :DDDDDDDDDD YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!**

 **On the other hand, we are going to have a school** **picnic at a beach after our exams, but I don't feel like going. :PPP Because... well... I don't like the sand. We are allowed to stay at school if we don't go.**

 **Classmate: You going to the beach?**

 **Me: I don't feel like going, actually.**

 **Classmate: Why?**

 **Me: Firstly... I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating. And it gets everywhere.**

 **Classmate: Ooookay.**

 **Me: Not like the library. In the library... Everything is so soft and smooth...**

 **Classmate: *slides away***


	30. Chapter 30

' There is a disturbance in the Force,' Fulcrum frowned, and stopped walking. ' Can you feel it?'

Ahsoka, Fulcrum and R2 were halfway through getting out of the fortress.

' Yes I can,' Ahsoka looked around them. ' What is that?'

R2 warned them, _we have company._

Of course. The sky above them was thick with battle cruisers.

' Oh that's not good,' Fulcrum said to herself. ' Anakin and Ventress might be trapped. Where are they?'

Ahsoka tapped on her wrist com, ' Communication's jammed. What can we do?'

' Use the Force bond,' Fulcrum reminded her. ' You should do it. Let's continue walking to save time.'

' Yeah.'

Ahsoka was half-shouting inside of her head, ' _Anakin? Anakin?'_

 _' Oh thank the Force, Snips. Wait. Which one are you?'_

 _' Uh, the Ahsoka from your world?'_

 _' Oh okay. You're alive. Communication's jammed by the way.'_

 _' I know.'_

 _' And we were ambushed. I am fighting against those... Stormtroopers as we speak.'_

 _' Oh no. Are you okay?'_

 _' We are holding them off okay, thanks to their horrible aim, but I am not sure for how long._ _There's no way we can contact Hera or Rex. They won't know what's going on or what to do since they're on the other side of the planet.'_

 _' If only there's a way to contact the base...'_

 _' I'm sure we can think of a way, Snips. Gotta go now. I need to concentrate on those... Ooomf! Blaster bolts!'_

 _' Cool, okay.'_

Ahsoka disconnected from the Force bond and told Fulcrum, ' Anakin's team is attacked. We have to call for reinforcements, but we can't do that, since communication is jammed.'

Fulcrum thought for a moment, ' Wait... I'm not sure if that's going to work. I can contact Caleb in the base, and they can contact the main ships.'

' How are we going to contact Caleb?'

Fulcrum tapped the side of her head, ' The Daughter has built a temporary Force bond between us, remember? I just need to get it working again.'

She concentrated hard, opening the bond that would lead her to Caleb.

 _' Caleb.'_

 _' Huh, whuzzgoinon?'_

 _' Sorry, you were sleeping? It's nighttime over here?'_

 _' Mmmhhh? No, it's around 3 over here. I am just taking a nap outside. What's going on?'_

 _' The First Order has jammed all of our communications, so we are unable to contact Hera and the others. Would you mind asking Leia to, er, contact them and ask them to come down and help?'_

 _' Well sure. Wait. Just a moment. She's here.'_

' There was a pause.'

 _' Done. They should be coming. Good luck, Ahsoka! May the Force be with you!'_

She could almost imagine Caleb's grin behind his words.

' All done,' Fulcrum said. ' We just need to go find Chopper and then try to get the others. Oh look. I think I see Chopper, just behind those trees.' Sure enough, Chopper was next to the Phantom, warbling at them with excitement.

R2 told Chopper, _Oh hey you're in one piece._

Chopper made a noise that vaguely sounded like blowing raspberries, _of course I am. I was starting to worry! Communication's jammed, First Order troopers everywhere. They're interfering with the intercom._

' I know buddy,' Ahsoka said, taking a seat at the cockpit. ' We need take off immediately to look for Anakin and the others. Hurry up, buddy.'

 _Right away, sir!_ Chopper did a salute.

They rose into the air, and Ahsoka looked around the area below them. ' Where is Anakin?' She muttered.

Almost immediately, there was a gigantic explosion just several clicks east from their location.

' Anakin is probably over there,' Fulcrum said, pointing at the orange and yellow mushroom cloud and the miniature explosions in the air that followed after it. ' Judging from the scale of that explosion.'

 _Yeah. Wherever there is an explosion, Master Ani is most likely in the centre of it,_ R2 said cheerfully.

While the Phantom descended behind Anakin's forces, Fulcrum immediately opened the back hatch of the ship, jumping down to join them. She activated her lightsabers, and started deflecting the bolts as well.

' Get into the ship! This is an order!' She pushed some of the agents into the Phantom. The Phantom definitely wasn't big enough to carry all of them, so they probably needed reinforcements.

' Well, you're late,' Anakin observed, as she began to make her way to his side.

' No we are not,' Ahsoka said, jumping into battle as well.

' Those guys keep coming!' Ventress complained, choking and hurling away more troopers. ' How many of them have they brought?'

There was a deep rumbling sound of engines. The Ghost was hovering above them.

' Okay, Hera is here. But we can't guarantee we can exit safely with all these blaster bolts flying around,' Anakin gritted his teeth. ' We need a diversion of some sort to stop them, and leave.'

' A diversion? What diversion?' Ventress hissed, banishing more troopers.

' Like this?' Fulcrum had a concentrated look on her face, and made a slashing motion in the air. At once, all the blaster bolts that were flying at their direction froze in the midair, sizzling and all.

' What the-' Anakin nearly dropped his lightsaber in alarm.

' Skyguy! Grab the blasters! Ahsoka and Ventress, push them backwards with everything you've got!'

Anakin used the Force, and about fifty or so blasters flew away into the air. And screaming Stormtroopers were pushed backwards into trees. Fulcrum directed the bolts, that they started rotating to a new angle. She released her hold in the Force, and all the sizzling bolts moved again, burying themselves into First Order cruisers.

' NOW!' Fulcrum yelled. Anakin and Ventress ushered the agents onto the ramp of the Ghost. Ahsoka and Fulcrum quickly went back onto the Phantom. Before the Stormtroopers could figure out what had happened to them, they were soaring into the air.

' Oh great,' Hera's voice crackled over the intercom. ' They are shooting at us. We'll need more support.'

Fulcrum barked instructions into the intercom, and immediately, the familiar ships of the Resistance descended from the clouds and started to shoot at the remaining First Order fighters. It was a rather welcoming sight. But when they looked down, the fortress of the Nightsisters was exploding in magical green flames and crumbling to dust due to all the firepower that landed on it.

' Pity,' Ahsoka said. ' They could have kept it as a relic of the past.'

' Mission accomplished, fellow troopers!' Fulcrum announced into the intercom, and there was a loud crackling sound of whooping and celebrating coming through the system. And she could clearly hear Gregor's shrieks of delight.

They shot out of the planet in full speed, and before the First Order cruisers could pursue them, the Phantom quickly connected with the top of the Ghost, and they jumped into hyperspace without delay.

' That was a very close one,' Ventress said, but she looked rather pleased at herself.

R2 and Chopper wheeled around the hall, both extremely sooty. R2 wobbled and complained.

' We'll clean you later,' Ahsoka promised.

 _And I fancy a droid spa,_ Chopper said.

 _Me too,_ R2 chimed in. _And a nice oil bath would be excellent. Not too warm, not too cool._

 _I agree,_ Chopper said delightedly, _you do have good taste!_

It was rare that the two droids would agree on something. The two rolled away, discussing about the best droid spa spots in the galaxy.

' So Ventress, you are the supervisor, huh?' Anakin asked, wiping the dust and grime off his face.

' The Proxy supervisor,' She corrected. ' I am just in standing for the main supervisor. She is engaged in a... ah, more important mission at the moment. She won't be coming back in a long, long time.'

' Oh,' Fulcrum said. ' How did you survive the second purge?'

' I ran into hiding, of course,' Ventress smirked. ' I am particularly good at escaping, remember? Then somehow Leia managed to contact me, and she talked me into accepting this job. Well, I had better go and check on my agents. In case they are injured or anything. See you later, then.'

Once Ventress disappeared behind the sliding door, Anakin rounded on Fulcrum, almost anxiously, ' Snips, that thing you did with the Force... What was that?'

' That?' Fulcrum blinked. ' Just a Force technique. Why do you ask?'

Ahsoka asked nervously, ' Is that... Some kind of a Dark Side technique or what?'

Fulcrum scrunched up her nose in confusion, ' Uhhhhh what? No, of course not! It doesn't necessarily require the power of the Dark Side. Luke invented this technique a long time ago, and he taught Kanan and I.'

' Oh,' Anakin looked like he was deflating. ' Oh.'

' What's wrong?' Fulcrum frowned at the pair of Jedi.

' Ummm, we might have mistaken... Kylo got landed into this entire mess because he used this to protect some younglings in a Senate attack. The Jedi Council thought it was an unseen Dark Side trick,' Ahsoka explained, with an embarrassed grin.

' He might have used the Dark Side to strengthen his attack power,' Fulcrum said thoughtfully. ' But no, it's not a Dark Side technique, for your information. I can teach you, if you want.'

' Really?' Ahsoka beamed.

' _Oh come on!'_ Anakin scowled. ' We could have discovered it a little bit earlier! Then we wouldn't have to deflect the stupid bolts from battle droids one by one! That'd save a lot of effort.'

' Well, in my opinion, it's more fun if you do it properly with a lightsaber, but some circumstances call for drastic actions,' Fulcrum gingerly adjusted her wrist comm. ' There are plenty of Force tricks out there, you just don't know about it. I learnt a lot of them in the Sith Temple, both Light and Dark. Some I haven't tried and don't intend to.'

' What are those?' Anakin asked, now rather interested.

' Umm, there's one trick... that allows you to levitate several hundreds of people into the air and Force choke them simultaneously. It's relatively easy to master, but I don't intend to try that anytime,' Fulcrum shuddered. ' And there's this really difficult one that requires a high level of skill. If you master it, you can absorb blaster bolts using the Force without breaking a sweat. I'm trying it out.'

' Wizard,' Anakin breathed. ' Maybe the Temple isn't as horrible as we think.'

' No it is not,' Fulcrum said. ' It holds both knowledge of the Dark and Light. That's the beauty of it.'

Ahsoka smiled, ' Master them quick, and teach us. We'd all love to surprise those pompous Masters in the Council.'

' I could teach you the blaster stopping trick as soon as we get back,' Fulcrum suggested. ' I have to ask Luke first though, since he was the one who created this technique in the first place.'

' Sure,' Anakin said.

Hera entered the lounge, ' We are approaching the base soon. Get prepared.'

Within a matter of minutes, they were descending into the hangar bays. A small crowd was huddled at the side, awaiting their return. The tired agents went down the ramp first, and were immediately taken away by healers to the healing wing accompanied by Ventress, who seemed to be extremely protective of them.

' Guys!' Caleb bellowed excitedly, when he saw them going down the ramp. ' You're back! Leia's really happy, by the way. You have to see her after dinner.'

' Was that Ventress I saw just now?' Kanan raised an eyebrow after reuniting with his wife.

' Yeah, she's the supervisor,' Hera said.

' What? Asajj Ventress?' Ezra exclaimed, jumping up and down, hoping to get a small glimpse of the famous former assassin. ' Oooh! I've never had the chance to see her besides on Holo TVs.'

' She comes by the Temple pretty often,' Ahsoka said, amused. ' Especially after she was pardoned of all criminal charges by the Republic and the Jedi Order.'

' All thanks to your efforts,' Anakin muttered. ' She tried killing us for so many times though.'

' I did promise her I would pardon her when I was on the run,' Ahsoka said. ' A promise has to be kept. Besides, the Separatists abandoned her a long time ago.'

' Fine. And well, after all she was the one who told me about Barriss,' Anakin said, and paused abruptly, realising his mistake. It was still a rather sore topic for them, even after so many years. They both hated it when the Holonet news re-reported the events on the anniversary day of the Temple Bombing and her scam of a Trial every year. Anakin hated it because it reminded him that he very nearly lost his Padawan and walked down a path that he would most likely regret. Even Fulcrum looked slightly rueful.

Older-Ezra quickly scented danger and coughed loudly to cover up the uncomfortable silence, ' Leia said Caleb and Ezra will be leaving soon for their mission, and she wishes that Ventress will be able to cooperate with the plan.'

' We'll relay the message to her,' Fulcrum said with a small, strained voice. ' Thank you. Come on, Artooie and Chopper. Let's get you cleaned up.'

R2 and Chopper followed her, both beeping jovially.

 _Oil bath, oil bath!_ They chanted.

' Oh?' Hera asked. ' Are they friends now?'

' They have found... er...' Ahsoka struggled to find the right word. ' _Mutual_ interest on oil baths.'

' That's good, isn't it?' Caleb said. ' That's the same for our own Chopper and R2... Except both of them tried to drown each other in the baths. Didn't work, and they wrecked havoc in the droid spa. Master Windu was beyond livid. We had to pay at least five thousand credits to compensate for the broken baths.'

' Ouch,' Older-Ezra winced.

Anakin scowled, ' Ouch is the right word, kid! I had to sacrifice a thousand credits for the bill.'

' Well I sacrificed a thousand credits from my allowance too!' Ahsoka glared at him. ' Padme and Hera paid the most.' Literally everyone related to the droids helped pay up. The Ghost Crew, Obi-wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Padme and even some of the clones from the 501st threw in money.

At the same time, Caleb tapped the side of his head, ' Ah I remember. Leia wishes to see all of us in the war room after dinner. She has something to discuss, er, about the mission. And she said she has a surprise for all of us.'

' Surprise? Ooh, I love surprises,' Ezra said.

 **Urrrrrrgh! Physics exam is killing me! D: We are actually learning about the force (unfortunately not the Force we are thinking about), and we are all so bad at it. XDDD And my friends and I started to joke that 'the Force is not strong with us this time'.**

 **I am so looking forward to Rogue One! :DDDDDD**

 **Oh, and I have 100 reviews now! Thanks so much! Please continue to give constructive criticisms or opinions! :DDDD Thanks again.**


	31. Chapter 31

**The second part of the fic is a bit ridiculous, since it's inspired by my own trip to the beach, which was kinda disastrous. Sorry for that.**

Dinner was a joyous occasion, and everyone was bustling around with plates of food, tired but delighted nonetheless that their mission had been a success. Most hadn't even changed out of their flight suits and uniforms, and they were too happy to care about it.

Poe made Fulcrum tell them all about the mission over dinner, and said rather wistfully when they went over the more exciting bits, ' I wish I could have accompanied you on the mission! It sounded like a lot of fun.'

' I'd love to make the Star Destroyers go _ka-boom_ ,' Finn said.

Fulcrum dug into her food and told Anakin and Ahsoka, ' Good news, by the way. I asked Luke about it just now, and he said he's more than happy to let you learn about the skill.'

' Yes!' Anakin pumped his fists into the air, and whooped loudly, ignoring the stares from around the table.

' What skill?' Rey asked.

' You mean the blaster stopping one?' Kanan looked up.

' Yep, that one,' Ahsoka answered cheerfully.

Poe shivered, ' Ohhh. Kylo Ren knows that one too. I've seen him stop my blaster bolt when he caught me on Jakku.'

' He should be able to stop more than one bolt,' Fulcrum said, downing her glass of juice. ' Speaking of Kylo, how is he? I haven't heard about him for a while, I think.'

' He spends most of the time sulking in his room,' Older-Ezra nibbled on a piece of celery. ' He doesn't come out. When I bring him meals, I see that all he does is meditating and meditating.'

' He's trying to throw off his connection to the Dark Side, I think,' Anakin guessed, finishing up the last bites of his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ' I think we're all done here.' One by one, they got up from the table.

* * *

Surprisingly, Ventress was also present at the meeting along with one other man that they didn't know. She was given a new set of armour and her lightsabers that looked freshly polished were dangling on a brand new utility belt. She looked pretty happy, well, as happy as she could get, since the word 'happy' was rarely associated with the former dark assassin.

' Glad you could join us,' Leia told Ventress. ' We were so worried.'

' Well, I'm fine now,' Ventress said. ' So... What's that secret mission they have been blabbering about?'

Leia quickly filled her in on what was to come and introduced the man to her side, ' Oh, I almost forgot. This is Wilfred Tarkin the Second. He's more commonly known as Fred Attora here.'

' Hello,' Fred Attora said politely. To their relief, this Fred Attora looked nothing like his grandfather. He had curly honey blonde hair, hazel brown eyes and was wearing a rather sunny smile. The insignia plate on his chest marked him as secondary Lieutenant. He seemed kind enough.

' You are Tarkin's grandson?' Caleb blurted out before he could stop himself. He was also wearing an expression of deep loathing as well.

' Yes, I am,' A grimace replaced Fred's pleasant smile for just a moment, ' though I hate to associate myself with Wilhuff Tarkin. Our entire family despises him and are ashamed of what he did. This is why my grandmother changed our names to her own family name.'

' Anyways, Fred has agreed to lend his name to us. We'll still be using Tarkin as your last name,' Leia continued. ' And we have an entire back story for Fred, thanks to the effort of the Theta agents. When can we place them both into the First Order's ranks?'

' Ah, I have to ask the Supervisor,' Ventress answered solemnly. ' She hasn't been replying to my messages.'

' Then we'll have to wait,' Leia decided. ' We have to seek for her consent before we can deploy anyone into her ranks. It's only safe if we do it this way.'

' Who's even the Supervisor?' Anakin asked, obviously not pleased with the confidentiality of the Supervisor's identity. ' Why can't we know?'

Ventress and Leia shared worried looks. Ventress cleared her throat, ' Um, it's best not to know. Her identity is top secret.'

' Really?' Ahsoka raised an eye-marking.

' Yeah. If her real identity falls into the wrong hands, we can all be in serious trouble,' Leia said ominously, and everyone glanced at each other nervously. Even Fulcrum seemed a little bit baffled, seeing that Leia would let her in on confidential information for most of the time. She guessed it really was an important piece of information, crucial to the victory of the Resistance.

' Yeah, let's leave it,' Fulcrum said. ' Leia has a reason for not telling us.'

' Oh! What about that surprise you were talking about huh?' Older-Ezra pointed out.

' Ah yes. I almost forgot!' Leia winked at them. ' There are two surprises, in fact.'

The tense atmosphere disappeared almost immediately. Everyone's faces were shining with eager.

' First... We're going to have a Life Day celebration!' Leia beamed. ' We haven't been holding a Life Day celebration for who knows how long. But since all of you came back this year, the higher officials have agreed to hold the Life Day celebration in your honour. I mean, we destroyed the Starkiller Base and we all deserve a good rest.'

Kanan resisted the urge to scream in excitement. Life Day celebrations were the best. It was an extremely rare occasion for him to enjoy time with his family and friends, especially when they were at war.

' Secondly... We're having a holiday retreat,' Leia said dramatically. ' To Naboo Lake City at-'

' YAS!' Anakin screamed. He loved his wife's home planet. That was where they married.

' Naboo's finest beach!' Leia finished, her eyes sparkling in excitement. ' We can all enjoy the water and the sand.'

At the word 'sand', Anakin's face turned a violent shade of purple, resembling blackcurrant ice-cream. He wasn't expecting this. ' LAKE CITY HAS A BEACH?!'

' Yeah,' Leia said, pushing a button on the panel, and out projected a beautiful beach, with elegant palm trees and soft shimmering waves on the surface of the ocean.

' Oh, err, wow,' Ahsoka loved the idea of relaxing on Naboo's beaches, but she knew of her Master's strong dislike of sand. She learnt this the hard way, when she thought it was a good idea to shove Anakin's face into sand during a mission. The next thing she knew, Anakin went total Dark Side and berserk, and started flinging sand back at her face using the Force.

' You could stay on the grass or in the water,' Fulcrum suggested sympathetically. She too knew about the entire sand problem all too well.

' What?' Leia asked, completely oblivious to the murderous expression on Anakin's face. ' He doesn't like sand?'

' No,' Caleb shook his head. ' A hundred percent no.'

Leia goggled at Anakin, flabbergasted, ' B-but... Sand is wonderful! It's warm and soft from the ocean and the sunshine. It's comfortable to walk on. You can sleep in the sand and enjoy the sun.'

Apparently in Anakin's book, the adjectives ' comfortable', 'wonderful', 'warm' or 'soft' would never ever be used to describe the word 'sand'. You were more likely to see Yoda turning pink. 'Evil', 'cruel' and 'menacing' were more appropriate.

' He could stay on the grass,' Kanan said, with a slight shake of his head.

Ezra shouted, ' Yeah! Stay on the grass.' There was no way they would let Anakin ruin their hard-earned vacation.

' I'm sorry, Anakin,' Leia gestured around the place in a rather apologetic way. ' Since most of the officials including Luke agree with this plan. So you may have to bear with it for a while. Or if you really don't want to go to the beach, you could just stay, I don't know, stay on the base with the Blue and Red Squadron? They won't be going because they have flight practice on the day, unfortunately. And we also need some people on the base to look after things.'

 _Poor, poor pilots,_ Caleb thought.

' No, no! I'll go. I'll stay on the grass,' Anakin said hurriedly.

' Good!' Leia beamed. ' We'll leave tomorrow. Our scouts have scoured the area for any First Order activity, but a lot of cruisers will be on stand-by besides the beach, just in case we need to make a quick getaway.'

' Is Kylo allowed to the vacation?' Rey asked suddenly.

' Yes,' Leia looked up, just a little surprised that someone would bring this subject up. ' But someone will have to keep watch after him. Let's get a duty roster.'

* * *

The next morning, everyone showed up at the hangar bay in all kinds of flashy beach wear. They spotted Admiral Ackbar walking around in a loud, short sleeved shirt complete with palm trees and multicoloured coconuts (at least they thought were coconuts). No kidding. The Admiral was rarely spotted in anything else except for his customary white uniform and vest.

The Jedi traded their heavy Jedi robes for lighter wear. Rey went back to her old Jakku desert wear, except her staff was missing. Anakin, however, showed up on their assigned Jedi transport in his full set of Jedi robes. Dark tunic, leather tabards, thick boots (the heavy kind Jedi used to fight in) and a long, heavy cloak with a hood.

' You are going to the beach in all of these?!' Ahsoka gestured at her Master's getup. She had changed out of her burgundy top into a beige coloured tunic.

' You will get a serious case of heat stroke at this rate,' Fulcrum said, carefully adjusting a pair of blue and white sunglasses on the top of her montrals.

' I have to protect myself,' Anakin said petulantly, drawing his cloak close to himself even though he was slightly sweating from the heat. ' From the sand.'

' Whatever you say, Master,' Ahsoka picked up a surfboard.

R2 and Chopper appeared behind them, chirping happily. They were scrubbed clean, thanks to the oil bath. There were no traces of dirt or grime on Chopper's surface. R2's blue and silver paint was gleaming.

' Hey Chopper and R2! Both of you are looking good!' Ezra complimented them.

 _Yeah, got to love the oil baths,_ R2 twirled around.

 _Excellent service,_ Chopper added.

 _And we should thank Snips for using her rest time to clean out our servos and change some of our parts,_ R2 whistled appreciatively. _In her own expense and time!_

' Ah yes,' Fulcrum said, when everyone stared at her. ' I realised some of their parts are rather rusty, so I changed them.'

' Oh thank you very much,' Luke patted R2's dome affectionately. ' I haven't checked R2's parts since I left him in low-power mode, and I was planning to buy them new parts. I could pay you back.'

' Naw, no problem,' Fulcrum said.

They took off from the base, and the trip was fairly enjoyable, except when Anakin started making faces at the corner at them, while hugging the cloak closer to him.

When they dropped off to Naboo, Ahsoka immediately made a mental note to have a picnic with her friends and Padme when she got back to her own timeline. The entire area was like one exquisite painting.

Some of the pilots screamed in delight, directly raced over to the ocean in full speed and jumped into the turquoise waters with loud splashes. The others began to follow suit, laughing and chasing after each other to pick their favourite spots on the beach.

Caleb removed his boots and stepped on the sand barefoot. ' Hey, it feels pretty nice! Warm and smooth,' He yelled at his Jedi friends.

They left their boots in one tidy line in the grass and started jumping around in the sand, while Anakin watched in disgust, staring at the sand as if they were poisonous.

' We could make sand castles,' Ezra said. ' Or sand angels.'

' One simply doesn't relate angels with sand,' Anakin said, aghast, as if Ezra had just offended him.

' Who cares!' Ahsoka lay in the sand contentedly. ' I'm going to bury myself in sand.'

Caleb started to kick sand at his friends, ' SAND FIGHT! Rey, this is a good chance for you to hone your Force abilities!'

A full-scale sand fight broke out, and everyone started to kick sand at each other using the Force and their feet. Even Ahsoka got up to join in the game. Anakin screamed and ducked, barely missing a stream of sand flying in his direction, ' WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CREATE SAND FIGHT?!'

Ezra spat out a mouthful of sand (much thanks to his older self), ' Ugh! Let's just go and skip rocks. I've seen people do that on the famous holonet TV series I watched.'

' Oh, you mean "The Sith and The Jedi"? I watched the first few episodes,' Ahsoka said enthusiastically. ' It was pretty good.'

' _The Sith and the Jedi_?' Kanan asked, aghast, momentarily forgetting the sand in his hand.

' Ooh yeah. The award winning Holonet TV series. It's about a Sith and a Jedi falling in love-'

' Let's just leave it there and go skip rocks,' Older-Ezra swallowed.

At the same time, Leia walked over to them, sunglasses perched on top of her head, and she was escorting her son Kylo by the arm. ' Please look after Kylo.'

' We will, sis,' Luke promised, patting down his tunic to remove the sand. ' Have fun!'

Kylo stared at them with a rather sullen look, as if he didn't want to be here. But Caleb seized him happily by the arm, and pointed at the sea with excitement, ' Let's go and skip rocks!'

Before they could walk towards the ocean, Anakin bellowed, ' Oi! You can't be leaving me here!'

' Then come and join us,' Fulcrum said, obviously annoyed.

' No I can't! I don't want the sand touching me!' He wailed.

' Let's just leave him here,' Luke groaned. Ignoring Anakin's protests, sauntered off in the other direction to enjoy the rest of the day.

 **Yeah. We had sand fight on the beach. Don't judge. XD**

 **OOOOOHHHH I saw Rogue One! IT WAS SO GOOD! I might be writing Rogue One fanfiction soon, lol.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Ahaha I suck at writing speeches. The AN at the end contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, I strongly advise you to zoom away immediately. :P**

The vacation to Naboo was absolutely lovely. The Jedi spent most of the day playing near the sea and trying to build sand castles using buckets (they failed spectacularly at that, since Caleb accidentally tripped on it). However, their happy day was somewhat ruined at the end when they had to rush Anakin to the healer on duty, since he collapsed into the grass at around noon due to sheer heat (hah that came true).

Needless to say, the Resistance healer wasn't pleased (she was enjoying a nice book and a coconut drink) when they showed up. She was a Mirialan woman with dark hair tied into a tight bun and a very stern look.

She examined Anakin, who was starting to turn red, and complained to them, ' Why would he wrap himself in such a thick cloak in such a hot weather? He's burning up!'

' Oh ask him, don't ask us,' Ahsoka said quietly.

She took off his cloak and outer tabards, started to fan him and wipe his forehead with a cool cloth, while muttering irritatedly under her breath. The Jedi left quickly after promising to come back and retrieve Anakin, to avoid incurring the healer's wrath. They definitely didn't want to anger her.

At the end of the day, people were starting to return to the cruisers reluctantly, and the Jedi was finally able to tear themselves away from the beautiful sunset to retrieve Anakin from the healer's stand.

He was better, judging from the fact that he looked less like a tomato. But he was still very pale and looking rather unwell.

' See?' Fulcrum said reproachfully. ' I told you that you are going to get a heat stroke!'

The distinctly pissed off healer said, ' He's still rather nauseous, so I advise... Less noise or movement when he gets onto the cruiser. Make him drink lots of water and he'll be fine.'

She allowed Anakin to leave, but Ahsoka and Fulcrum had to support him as they staggered with much difficulty onto the cruiser. He immediately collapsed onto a chair, allowing R2 to fan him using an electric fan. Kanan passed him a flask of cool water. The rest of the journey home was quiet, in case Anakin started to vomit again.

They were welcome by good news once they got off. Ventress ran towards them, waving a holopad, ' Good news, people! The Supervisor just contacted me.'

' Let's continue this conversation at the meeting room,' Luke said. ' I'll call Leia.'

* * *

' We talked for a long time,' Ventress said, handing the holopad to Leia. ' She said she has made the necessary arrangements and provided the official documents, ID badges and insignia plaques for identification. Caleb and Ezra are welcomed into the ranks without problem.'

Leia scrolled through the insignia plaques, and exclaimed, ' Those are extremely high ranked plaques! What post has the Supervisor signed up for?'

' Oh, that,' Ventress laughed nervously. ' She has signed them up for... The personal assistants of General Hux and Captain Phasma.'

Ezra and Caleb dropped their holopads in horror.

' This is tricky,' Kanan said. ' Working for Snoke's most trusted officials.'

Ventress added, ' Caleb will be the personal assistant of General Hux, while Ezra will be the personal assistant of Captain Phasma.'

' But why?!' Caleb cried desperately. ' Why?!'

' Why do they need personal assistants all of a sudden though?' Anakin asked curiously. He was leaning on a chair, in case he collapsed again.

' They have always had one,' Kylo said (he was allowed in the meeting as their foremost advisor of the First Order). ' Not much of a surprise. Their assistants have the privileges of most high ranking officials.'

' Almost everyone fear them,' Finn squeaked.

' It's a good job, in my opinion,' Kylo said.

' What even happened to the original ones?' Older-Ezra frowned.

' Oh,' Kylo said awkwardly. ' Phasma's assistant resigned from her job a little earlier to return to her homeland and family. As for Hux's assistant, well, I killed him.'

' WHAT?' Caleb wanted to faint.

' He once tested me, so I killed him,' Kylo said calmly. ' Hux wasn't pleased at first, and kept bemoaning at Phasma about how ridiculous I was. But then he secretly told Phasma and Mitaka he has always wanted a new assistant. It's not hard, really. I can give you all the tips you want. Just follow him around, proofread his speeches in case they get too emotional, carry his coat and pour him drinks. And Phasma is easy. You just need to tag behind her during Stormtrooper training, and take notes. She could be nice, but hmm... Hux, not so much.' Caleb paled.

' I can manage that,' Ezra said, relieved that he didn't need to serve Hux.

' How did she manage to get these jobs?' Leia muttered to herself, removing the towel around her neck. ' Well, we don't have time to think about this. You two will be flying in once the Life Day celebration is over. Now, I gotta get some cool drinks and lie down. I'm exhausted.'

* * *

Anakin ought to be worried about Life Day presents. Exchanging presents was a very important part of the celebration. He used to make little droids for his children and friends, but here, he couldn't make anything since he didn't have his favourite toolkit with him.

He spotted female pilots giggling in the gardens and trying to make flower crowns out of blue and purple flowers as gifts and desperate boys trying to hand paint Life Day cards. He was deciding to take a leaf out of the boys' book and draw Life Day cards, when he walked into Ahsoka and Fulcrum carving little statuettes out of wood.

' Hey Master,' Ahsoka said without looking up, too absorbed in whittling a small piece of wood in her hand. Fulcrum was just setting aside a wooden figure of the Ghost onto the table, and starting on a fresh new piece of wood.

' What are all these?' Anakin bent down to examine the delicately carved figures on the table. There were lots of them, miniature lightsaber hilts and ships.

' Life Day gifts!' Fulcrum said cheerfully, now cutting the wood into a cylinder. ' We are making one for everyone.'

' Carving things?! That's my thing!' Anakin protested. After all, he was the one who showed Ahsoka how to carve things out of wood, for example, japor snippets.

' Well then I guess you can join in,' Ahsoka pushed a box of paint towards him. ' You could start by painting them. I was thinking of making your lightsaber after finishing on Caleb's, now I don't have to.'

' Fair enough,' Anakin said, picking up a wooden figure of Poe's X-wing and dipped the paintbrush in silver paint.

* * *

Caleb woke up to loud music and noises down the hall. Of course. The people would wake up early to party all day.

He yawned, and dressed quickly in his tunic. He grabbed his last minute handmade rancor toys from the kitchen table, and stuffed them all into his forage bag. Hopefully, the others would like his gifts.

He opened the door, and judging from the stream of people hurrying down the corridors, they were going to the mess hall. Right.

The original nondescript mess hall was completely transformed. Green and red Life Day trees lined up against the faded grey walls, and the walls were completely covered with colourful banners of the Resistance. The tables were arranged at the side, hollowing out a large area for dancing.

He spotted his friends standing by the alcoholic drinks, chatting with each other. Even R2, Chopper and BB8 were there, at their owners' feet.

' Oh, hey!' Ahsoka said, calling him over. ' Just in time! We're going to exchange gifts.' Anakin greeted him by pushing a glass of unknown, light purple coloured cocktail into his hand.

Caleb was showered with gifts. A beautifully carved wooden figure of his lightsaber hilt from Anakin, Ahsoka and Fulcrum. A mini Life Day tree from Luke and Leia. A nice Holobook about creatures from Ezra (he was only interested on the rancor page). Homemade chocolate chip cookies from Older-Ezra, Kanan and Hera. A small painting of him from Sabine. A generous handful of nuts and bolts from R2, Chopper and BB8. Caleb had a feeling they snitched the bolts from the technicians' booth.

Kylo was just standing with his arms spilling with gifts, too overwhelmed with the fact that he was given gifts. Caleb had the feeling that he was never able to celebrate Life Day with friends and family. He also had the bad feeling that the First Order didn't celebrate Life Day.

' Wow,' Anakin said, holding up Caleb's rancor figure. ' As weird as this gift is, no offence, it's really well carved.'

Poe admired the wooden figure of his X-wing, and a bonus little BB8 sticking out, ' This is perfect!'

' Mmm, this is really good,' Caleb said, starting to devour his cookies, grateful that Hera hadn't forgotten about his obsession with cookies.

' YEAH!' Older-Ezra bellowed, already tipsy from all the alcoholic drink, and everyone jumped in surprise.

' Oh, no,' Kanan snatched away his glass of wine as if it was a sea slug or something, ' Ezra! That's enough! You're on your fourth glass of wine!'

Caleb took a sip from his own glass, and shivered slightly when the wine burnt his throat, ' Wow. That's really strong stuff. How could you drink four glasses of that without going completely drunk? I think I would have collapsed shortly after my second drink.'

' You can't stopppp me. I'm an adult,' Older-Ezra slurred, feebly trying to seize back his glass, but Kanan's hand danced out of his reach.

' Hera isn't here to stop you, so I will,' Kanan dumped the glass onto the table with a loud clang. ' Let's stay away from the alcoholic drinks and go have some other snacks.'

Ezra, who was rather red in the face from all the wine, muttered something that sounded like ' Yes Mom', before grouchily following them to the cakes and sweets table.

At the centre, Leia took a microphone from a high general, and said, ' Attention, everyone. It's just a very short speech, on my part. Well, I'd like to start by saying Happy Life Day to everyone.' The people cheered as a response.

' We decided to bring back Life Day celebrations, because we want everyone to experience what it is like to be celebrating with family and with your loved ones. All of us here are family, whether you are new or not, because we fight for the same reason. And so, let's work together in the coming year to fight for what we believe in, as a family. Thank you. Enjoy the celebration!'

It was mayhem. Everyone screamed, cheered, shouted to show their heartfelt agreement towards the General's words.

' Awww!' Ahsoka said, and hugged each and every one of her friends.

Kylo just sat there, slightly squashed from the bone crushing hug and dazed by the concept of 'celebrating with family'.

Caleb continued to stuff his face with trifle in the middle of the hug, unaffected by the hug.

Anakin smiled from ear to ear at his friends, hoping that his children and wife (cough, maybe even Obi-wan) were also by his side at the moment. Then, his family (plus his Padawan, er, Padawan _s)_ would be truly complete.

* * *

At the crack of dawn, Caleb and Ezra were ready at the hangar bays, dressed from head to toe in stiff First Order uniforms, which consisted of a high-collared tunic, large belt, pants and a heavy coat with the red symbol of the First Order branded on the arm. None of them needed any disguise, because well, they looked nothing like their counterparts.

Hera was pinning their insignia plaques onto their chests, while Leia briefed them on what they needed to do.

' A First Order cruiser will be meeting you up near these coordinates. You'll be asked to board the ship over the intercom, and do as they say,' She instructed them. ' Present your official ID documents for identification, then the rest will be easy. Do whatever your superiors ask you to and act normal. If you do get into trouble, remember we always have help inside their ranks. Ventress, what is the code phrase?'

' " I'm one with the Force",' Ventress answered promptly. ' And the other will answer "The Force is with me". Easy.'

' Okay. I'm one with the Force, the Force is with me,' Ezra repeated. ' I got this.'

' Report to us whenever you can,' Fulcrum said. ' Anakin has tinkered with your belts. We have built an undetectable compartment into it, and stuffed in the standard Resistance holoprojector and your lightsabers. Don't worry, I've got a hacker manual in it too, you just need to override the commands in case the First Order jams any outward transmissions. All audio are automatically encrypted and scrambled. Try to delve into Ben's location, but don't make the First Order suspicious. You are new after all.'

' Cool,' Caleb answered, still slightly reluctant to work for Hux.

Poe said, ' I've already programmed in a hyperspace route, so they can't detect where you two came from.'

' Be careful. Don't take out your lightsabers unless necessary and try not to use the Force,' Kylo said. ' Snoke will know. So block your Force identities in the Force.'

' Gee, thanks for the tips,' Caleb said.

' You mustn't tarry,' Ventress glanced at her chrono. ' Go now.'

' May the Force be with you,' Kanan said.

Caleb and Ezra boarded the ship. Ezra tugged at the collar of his tunic nervously. Caleb flipped on the switches and sighed at his former apprentice, ' Why did I agree with this?'

 **Yep. The code phrase. I know.**

 **I will be out of town for several days, so consider this as a... I don't know... Christmas special.**

 **Merry Christmas! *yep that's early***

* * *

 *** SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE* *IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, I STRONGLY ADVISE YOU TO MOVE AWAY NOW* *THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION***

 **So... My friends and I went to the beach (blah, school picnic) a day after watching the Rogue One. All three of us are starting to ship Rebelcaptain. This kinda happened as well, besides the sand fight:**

 **Me: Guys. We are standing on a beach.**

 **Friend: Oh, my. I didn't realise.**

 **Friend #2: OH. OH. OH.**

 **Clueless Friend #1: What?**

 **Me: LET'S DO THE SCENE ALL OVER AGAIN. WE HUG. AND WE IMAGINE THE LIGHT COMING AT US.**

 **Friend: YEAH LET'S DO IT.**

 **Friend #2: *wails* NOOOOOOOOOOO MY SHIP!**

 **Clueless Friend #2: What the heck is wrong with you three?!**

 **Three of us: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **Rogue One has officially ruined beaches for all three of us.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Till now, I still find it hard to accept that Carrie Fisher has passed away. I would like to thank her for being so wonderful, and making Princess Leia an inspiring role model for all of us.**

 **Rest in peace, Carrie Fisher, you will be missed.**

Caleb swallowed his panic when he realised their cruiser was caught in a tractor beam of a Star Destroyer. Finn was right. First Order Star Destroyers looked extremely menacing in its dark colours. No offence to the engineers and designers of Clone Wars Star Destroyers, but these deadly Star Destroyers made Clone Wars era Star Destroyers look like harmless food transports.

And the stiff collar of his uniform didn't help with calming.

On the other hand, Ezra was just staring upwards at the looming ship with mild apprehension. But he was determined to do anything to save Ben.

' Anytime now,' Caleb muttered.

A thud signalled that they had landed in the hangar bays of the Destroyer.

They walked to the exit, and the ramp dropped down with loud hisses and dramatic smoke.

Fortunately, the welcoming committee wasn't as terrifying as they had envisioned. Only a young, nervous looking officer with five Stormtroopers standing behind him.

' Welcome, Commander Tarkin and Commander Willows, pleased to meet you,' He said in a hurry. ' Er, I am Lieutenant Eives. General Hux and Captain Phasma would like to express their apologies of not being able to receive you, as they have to attend an important meeting with the Supreme Leader. I will be taking you to the bridge to give you your necessary items, and they will meet up with you as soon as possible.'

 _We are automatically made Commanders?_ Ezra asked his former Master through their bond. _Cool! I've never had a military rank before._

Of course. By the time Ezra became a Padawan, the Clone Wars had ended years ago. And all Jedi Generals and Commanders relinquished their military ranks in the GAR. But they agreed to be advisors amongst the ranks.

' Um, thank you, Lieutenant,' Caleb tried to put up his best Commander tone (he wasn't the usual commanding type). ' Please lead the way.'

It wasn't easy to act normal, as the Stormtroopers were following them, holding their blasters. Caleb was sure that if he put a toe out of line, he would get shot to death on the spot.

Fortunately, they saluted, and left when they arrived at the bridge. Eives handed them two shiny black holopads bearing the First Orer symbol, ' This is the standard issued datapads. We have already helped you create accounts and your daily schedules and access codes are downloaded into it. And this is your comlink.'

' Thank you,' Ezra said, taking the items, careful not to drop them.

Eives nodded respectfully at them, ' You are welcome, Commanders.'

A voice said behind them, ' Lieutenant.'

The young man whirled around, and paled at the sight of the red haired General and Captain. ' G-General Hux! Captain Phasma!'

' Ah, I see you have received our new assistants,' Hux said pleasantly (Caleb definitely wasn't expecting this). ' Has there been any trouble?'

' No!' Eives said hastily.

' Excellent job, Lieutenant. You may leave now and resume your normal duties,' Phasma told him.

The Lieutenant bowed low at them, looking both daunted and delighted by his superior officer's praises, and hurried off the bridge.

' Welcome on board Finalizer,' Hux gestured around him. ' I am General Armitage Hux, and this is Captain Phasma. We are very pleased to meet you.'

' P-pleased to meet you too, Sir!' Caleb said, slightly shaking.

' There's no need to be nervous,' Phasma laughed (seriously, she laughed?) casually. ' We don't bite. Ooh, finally we'll be having assistants again. Isn't that great?'

' Yep,' Hux answered. ' Well, I'll be leaving with Wilfred. I suppose you will be staying? I heard the Supreme Leader has sent a new batch of Stormtrooper cadets on board.'

' Yes, I will be staying behind to oversee their final stages of training,' Phasma sighed. ' I hope there won't be turncoats. The Supreme Leader was so furious about it.'

' Oh yes! He threw you down the garbage chute,' Hux reminded her. ' I was thinking you wouldn't survive. Alright. See you later at dinner.'

Caleb was screaming frantically into his bond with Ezra as he was led away by Hux.

* * *

' I'm easier than Hux. And your duties are easier,' Phasma told Ezra. They were standing on a bridge above a blaster target training room. ' On your datapad, I should have sent you the data files?'

' Er, yes,' Ezra said, quickly tapping on his datapad. ' Got it.'

' In it, I have programmed in all the basic information of the graduating Stormtroopers,' She pointed below them. Stormtrooper cadets were practicing with their wickedly shiny blasters. ' We'll be holding the skills test in half an hour. I need you to record down the results, and my comments. And announce who's going to go next.'

' Yes, Sir,' Ezra said.

' There's no need for the formalities,' Phasma said. ' You are my assistant, so we are, er, kinda like friends now. You may call me Phasma.'

' Yes... S-Phasma,' Ezra corrected.

They waited for half an hour, surveying the cadets' final training. ' Okay cadets, listen up,' Phasma clapped her hands. ' It's time for the skills test. Line up according to your code numbers. Remember, if you fail this test, you will have to return to the academy for one more year.'

' Sir yes Sir!' The cadets shouted.

' Good. We will begin now. Will you please, Commander.'

' Er, FN-3130?'

The first cadet confidently stepped forward, aimed his blaster at the target, and fired one clean shot. It hit the target directly.

' Grade A,' Phasma said with approval.

Ezra quickly typed her comments into the document, and looked up, ' FN-3131.'

 _Phew. That was easy. I wonder what Caleb is doing with Hux right now._

* * *

Caleb was so terrified when Hux led him into a posh looking official's lounge. Many high officials were currently chatting inside, sophisticatedly sipping on expensive looking drinks.

' Ah, Hux!' An official in a dark uniform called over at him. ' We didn't see you at Mitaka's birthday party.'

' I had to attend a meeting,' Hux said, sitting next to the man.

' Shame, we had really nice food,' Another official with a bushy moustache said, pouring Hux some drinks. ' Oh, and who's that?'

Hux noticed that Caleb was standing next to him, as stiff as a board.

' Please sit,' Hux told him, and he turned to his official friends. ' This is my new assistant. Wilfred Tarkin.'

' Tarkin?!' A man exclaimed. ' Wilhuff Tarkin had a son?'

' Er... I'm his grandson, to be exact,' Caleb said, stiffly.

' But I thought Tarkin's son along with his family died in an accident,' The moustached official gawked at Caleb. ' How can this be?'

Caleb simply memorised the entire story in his guidebook, ' Well... There's no use to be ashamed of that... But well... The original Tarkin was involved in an affair with my grandmother, sooooo...'

' Ah,' The man said understandingly.

A female Colonel said, ' That's great! We were thinking that you will never get a replacement after Ren killed the last one. Forgive me, Hux, but your last assistant was too cocky for his own good. I was actually surprised that Kylo managed to put up with him for more than half an hour.' Several officials chuckled nervously. They had witnessed Kylo Ren's rage before.

' No offence taken,' Hux said, downing his drink.

Caleb decided it was a good opportunity to press on with the subject. He squeaked, ' K-Kylo Ren? He won't be here, right?'

' No,' Hux frowned, setting down his glass. ' Speaking of that ridiculous man, he has been missing for quite a long time. And the Supreme Leader refused to tell me where he is. Do remind me to give him a piece of my mind when he comes back.'

' Last I heard he was on leave,' An official said. ' But I must say we are all enjoying the peace and quietness when he is away. No lightsaber accidents, and no freak Stormtrooper deaths.' Everyone murmured their agreements.

' Oh,' Caleb said, trying hard not to sound disappointed. He had thought that Hux would know where Ben was held. This might mean... Snoke was super secretive about it. If Hux didn't know, well, Phasma definitely wouldn't know too.

This mission might be harder than he had expected.

* * *

' I am EXHAUSTED!'

Ezra invited Caleb over to his assigned quarters to talk about their day. Ezra had a fairly pleasant day. He just stood next to Phasma, reviewing Stormtrooper cadets. Only 5 cadets failed Phasma's requirements out of 70 of them, and they were immediately sent back to the academy.

As for Caleb, he had to pretend to be interested in politics and respond to the officials' sophisticated questions about his normal life.

' You didn't do anything though,' Ezra said. ' Why would you be exhausted?'

' I AM MENTALLY EXHAUSTED!' Caleb cried dramatically. ' At least Phasma didn't make you sip wine with her Stormtrooper cadets! I was so scared the entire time! What if they spotted a loophole in my tale?'

' Relax, Master. Ventress has guaranteed zero loopholes,' Ezra sighed, his mind wondering to the time when Luke jokingly said that sometimes Ezra was like Caleb's Master instead of the other way round.

' Still!'

' We have to report to the Resistance. Seems like we won't be able to get any information anytime soon,' Ezra said, flipping the switches in his utility belt to fish out his secret holoprojector in the secret compartment. He had tried to ask Phasma about Kylo Ren, but she too had no idea where Kylo Ren was.

' Mind figuring out how to activate it?'

They only spent a couple minutes reading the manual, and they successfully disabled the security in the quarters, making their transmissions undetectable. May the Force bless Fulcrum for creating good hacker manuals. They checked and checked and checked for any unwanted eavesdropper, and settled inside the refresher to make the secret call.

They tapped in the secret Resistance code, and immediately, the legendary symbol of Fulcrum sprang up.

' Oh hello. Did you two have any trouble with the security? Problems with your new superior officers? Kanan and the other Ezra are extremely worried, by the way.'

Her voice was scrambled beyond recognition, but they could tell it was Fulcrum from her phrasing and tone.

' No, not exactly. But we do have a major issue.'

' Oh? What's that?'

' Neither Hux nor Phasma know where Ben is.'

' They will know, eventually,' Fulcrum didn't sound that worried.

' How do you know?'

' Experience,' Fulcrum laughed (at least they thought it was a laugh). ' Work hard, put up with them to gain their trust, and you know when the time comes. Snoke just doesn't want them to know yet.'

' I hope so,' Caleb said, more grumpily than he had intended.

' I will report to Leia, and we will see what we can do to help you,' Fulcrum said. ' If there's nothing else, you two can rest. It has been a long day. May the Force be with you!'

Her symbol disappeared with a flash.

' This must be the toughest day of my life,' Caleb complained to Ezra.

Ezra rolled his eyes.

* * *

Far away, on a distant planet, a young man was in chains, tortured endlessly.

The room was dark. But suddenly, a blue holo figure stabbed through the darkness.

' Apprentice,' Snoke said.

The man opened his eyes, ' Yes, Master.'

 **Sorry about that. :P**

 **Well... I'm back.**

 **So... I announce that I have joined 2 new fandoms over the holidays - X-Files (yeah yeah my friend made me watch the first season, and I am surprised that I liked it) and Yuri! On Ice (my another friend influenced me).**

 **Any Victuuri shippers or YOI fans out there?**

 **PS: Yep. Word count of this chapter is 2016.**


	34. Chapter 34

**THE SEASON 3 MID SEASON TRAILER. :OOO I CAN'T. THE HYPE IS HERE AGAIN.**

 **And sorry, I suck at creating planet names.**

Caleb was starting to get used to his new identity. It wasn't hard, since most people showed respect towards him, even if he was just a Commander. Apparently, most First Order people deeply admired Wilhuff Tarkin (come on, he was totally famous and *cough* evil *cough* during the Empire days), so naturally, they respected 'Tarkin's secret grandson'. Fortunately, Hux felt the same way as well.

' Your grandfather was one of my favourite Imperial officers alongside Grand Admiral Thrawn when I was a kid. I researched a lot about them back at school,' Hux told him casually over lunch one day. ' Your father was pretty impressive too. I admired his battle tactics and wit. Pity they died early. The Empire would have defeated the loathsome Rebels if both of them hadn't died. And I never imagine I would get the opportunity to meet _The Tarkin's_ grandson! What an honour.'

Caleb responded with a noncommittal jerk of his head, silently wondering what would happen if Hux met with the real Fred, who didn't want to associate himself with the Tarkin family. He thought Hux might faint.

Ezra was doing reasonably well. Phasma made him fill in and sign the slips of disqualification for Stormtrooper cadets. Even though he despised the First Order, he couldn't help but feel bad for disqualifying the Stormtrooper cadets and dashing their efforts.

He thought drily as he signed the slip of a certain Stormtrooper with really bad grades and sealing his fate, that Caleb would love to do this type of work. You would think the Jedi were not petty. But once, Caleb substituted for a politics class, and he had a lot of fun giving failing grades to the Padawans that used to bully Ezra (you should have seen him cackling evilly like a Sith Lord).

However, right when Caleb was starting to believe that his 'career' was going off smoothly, Hux dropped him a data file and asked him to do the impossible.

' That's the speech for the Supreme Leader's birthday,' Hux told him. ' I was chosen to present a short speech to honour him in the celebrations. I would like you to proofread it for me, and add things if necessary.'

Caleb stared at him in horror. What?! Writing speeches? That was Master Obi-wan and Senator Amidala's thing! Not his!

' Errrrrrrr. Okaaaay,' He tried to sound enthusiastic, but really, he wasn't.

That was why he ended up bashing his head against the computer terminal in the First Order archives, not bothering to open the data file.

' I see you are having trouble,' A new voice said over him.

' Yeah,' Caleb said, looking up to find a young man, peering at him. ' You are...?'

' Oh, I am Grami Blake,' He said. ' Sergeant. I believe you are Commander Tarkin, right? And I'm assuming you are proofreading General Hux's speech.'

' Yes I am,' Caleb said, debating whether to trust this guy. ' And I'm... Well, to be frank, I wasn't expecting this.'

' Here's a tip,' Grami winked. ' No one actually cares about the content. General Hux's speeches are well-known for how dramatic and passionate they are. Just skim over the content, and add dramatic stuff, with just enough "oof" to bring tears into everyone's eyes.'

Caleb's eyes widened. Boring speeches wasn't his thing. But dramatic was _his_ thing!

' Okay. So I just need to be dramatic?' He asked the young man.

' Yeah,' Grami nodded happily. ' And in case you need references, you could just dig up old speeches from the archives. In my opinion, the one he said at the destruction of the Hosnian Prime was one of the most dramatic. I'll be over at the history section. If you need help, do ask me.'

' Thanks,' Caleb said, relieved.

Well, at least he was safe from getting fired for now. He was sure Leia or Ventress would strangle him if Hux fired him for his poor writing.

In the end, he rewrote the beginning of the speech with more dramatic words and added more passionate words into the final sentence after watching the Starkiller Base firing speech, he was sure he could do much better than that. He even managed to resist the temptation to add in a masterful analogy he had created about rancors.

When he thought the thing was good to go, he saved the document, shut down his computer terminal and danced away with the file in hand.

* * *

It was only on the day of the official birthday banquet (they had thought Snoke would show up in his own birthday banquet, but he didn't, which was a relief) when Ezra was told that Caleb edited Hux's speech. He nearly spat out half of the expensive drink in his hand, earning him scandalised glares from other officials.

' WHAT?' He said, not caring about the glares. ' Is that really a good idea?'

' I don't know,' Phasma said. ' Hux seemed pleased with the speech though. It should be fine.' There were lots of delicious looking food in front of them, but Phasma never removed her helmet to eat or drink. Well, Ezra had never seen her face behind the helmet. Sometimes he wondered if she was human.

There was a loud gong like sound, which signalised the beginning of Hux's very important speech.

Ezra seriously had no idea how Hux managed to memorise the entire thing.

It was insanely long and fast. Ezra swore he heard 'The most gloriously wise Supreme Leader' and ' As the extraordinarily brilliant Supreme Leader suggested' for more than ten times at one point in a single line of Hux's speech. How he had managed that, Ezra didn't know.

He had thought the others would be disgusted by the excessive, sugary, flattery phrases, but all of them seemed so moved. Some of them were even sobbing daintily into handkerchiefs.

' You wrote that thing?' Ezra whispered to his former Master in horror.

' Er,' Caleb said, his voice wavering a little bit, since he found out that the speech was a little _too_ dramatic. ' Yeeaah.' But then he spotted Grami, who was not sitting very faraway from them with his own superior officers, giving him a genuine thumbs-up.

Eurgh. He focused on not vomiting.

Finally, it ended with a generous toast to the Supreme Leader, and the official banquet started.

Ezra and Caleb made some polite small chats with the other officials, toasted with the others, and tried to stay away from the general public, in case they embarrassed themselves. And they managed to wing through the celebration banquet without suffering from any problems.

Fulcrum would be pleased.

* * *

Their life at the First Order side continued. Work, meetings, work, meetings, polite dinner banquets and reporting to Fulcrum. It was not easy to juggle time with all the duties on their backs, but they managed.

' No news of Ben?' Fulcrum sounded disappointed behind the scrambled audio at a before-breakfast report. ' Hmm. We'll have to wait.'

' We have been waiting for nearly a month,' Caleb said, not wanting to be rude, but boy, he was slightly annoyed.

' Have patience,' Fulcrum said eventually. ' There has been a mild disturbance in the Force. Do be careful.'

The call ended, and they decided it was time for breakfast. They made it down to the official's common room, feeling strange. Something was weird with the Force, and they couldn't find out what exactly it was.

Until they sat down next to their official friends Captain Sara and Grami (some of them were surprisingly nice) with bowls of cereal, when a Colonel named Joel waved the holopad around excitedly, ' Guys! The raid on Kirogha was a success!' Ezra and Caleb shared a puzzled look.

' There has been a raid?' Mitaka asked. ' Why weren't we informed of this? Did you know, Hux?' He eyed Hux expectantly.

Hux frowned, halfway through pouring himself a cup of caff, ' Don't look at me like that, Mitaka. I didn't know until now!'

' I thought you would,' Mitaka shrugged, and took a piece of fruit. ' So what exactly happened?'

Joel eagerly scrolled through the document, ' The villages on Kirogha have always supported the Resistance movement. I think they have been wanting to raid the village for ages, but they just don't get the opportunity or time to bring down troops. They finally did, just yesterday. They arrested three villages of people and burnt down the buildings. Ha!'

Ezra was lost for words. He quickly spooned cereal into his mouth to avoid being spoken to.

' Who's the commanding officer?' Grami said.

' Oh, the report didn't say,' Joel noted.

' No commanding officer?' Mitaka exclaimed. ' No way. The Supreme Leader would never allow a big operation like this to be carried out without a commanding officer. They must have left it out.'

' Dunno. We'll have to wait for the next report,' Joel put down his holopad. ' We'll probably get the full report by lunch.'

Okay, Ezra thought. As horrible as it was, it was just a raid. Nothing could go wrong, right? Raids were normal.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Throughout the morning meetings, everyone was listening with half an ear because they were too anxious about the reports. Apparently the entire Finaliser got wind of what had happened on Kirogha. Caleb sat there, trying to jot down notes on the elaborate plans of sending well-trained spies into the Resistance (that was also an alarming fact. He had to warn them about this).

When it was time for lunch, people swarmed out to see if the reports came out.

It came out, alright.

They crowded around Hux, while the General read the article with much difficulty with all the people breathing down his neck.

He finally looked up with a grimace, ' Oh. I see who's the commanding officer. It's Ren.'

Wait. What?

' What?' Mitaka voiced that out.

' Kylo Ren,' Hux said, pointing at the name in red. ' The Supreme Leader made him the commanding officer. It was a secret operation, alright. Oh, so that's where the idiot has been. We were wondering where he was this entire time. He'll be returning after he makes his report to the Supreme Leader on his private shuttle. Apparently, he has a lot of information about the Resistance base on his leave.'

' He'll be coming back?!' Joel groaned mightily. ' I will miss those days without accidents on the Finaliser.'

' Watch your mouth,' Grami said. ' You don't want Lord Ren to kill you.'

No, no way. The real Kylo Ren was at home, and if Ben was with them... No.

Ezra looked as shocked as Caleb was.

* * *

' Are you sure it's Ben?' Fulcrum said, troubled. ' It could be a clone, you know. Or a fake.'

' It has to be him,' Ezra answered grimly. ' This explains the increasing darkness we felt in the Force this morning. Oh boy. What have they done to Ben? Did Snoke torture him and manipulate him to the Dark Side?'

' If that's the case, it is the last straw for the Resistance,' Fulcrum said at last. ' He knows where the base is and many secrets, and he will be coming for us next. The Generals have to know about this.'

Caleb's heart sank, ' So you have to move?'

' We will have to,' The Togruta sighed. ' And it has to be quick. He'll be coming right? Gather as much information on him as possible.'

' But he'll recognise us! Even if he turns to the Dark Side, it doesn't mean his memory is not intact!'

' Change your appearance?' Fulcrum suggested helpfully. 'I think both of you are pretty unrecognisable already with the gelled hair. Maybe try shaving off the beard? It might help. Tune down your Force presences, and stay alert. We need more frequent reports, now that the situation is _this_ bad. Bad doesn't quite cover it anymore. Oh boy.' They could almost imagine Fulcrum face-palming.

They cut the call, and grimaced at each other.

' So we have a lead on where Ben is,' Caleb crossed his arms tiredly. ' But the problem is he is no longer our Ben. What exactly has Snoke done to him? Has he somehow convinced him that we are the bad guys? Did he torture him to insanity? So are there two Kylos right now?'

' We don't know for sure yet,' Ezra stowed away the holoprojector. ' Things are getting complicated. Now, let's try hard not to get caught. For now, let's alter our appearances before he gets back.'

 **Ahahahaha. :P Ben will show up soon. Maybe in the next chapter. The Resistance moves to a new base, and Caleb and Ezra lurk around.**

 **YAAAAASSSS WE ARE GETTING OBI-WAN VS MAUL THE REMATCH! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD TOO EXCITED!**


	35. Chapter 35

**I know, I know. The stuff is confusing. If you have any questions considering the chapter or anything is too confusing to you, please feel free to pm me about it. Thanks! :DDD**

There was a certain unwelcome, tense atmosphere lingering around on the corridors and rooms of the Finaliser. Almost everyone had been dreading the arrival of the day - Kylo Ren, who had recovered from his injuries, would return to the ship on the Supreme Leader's orders. Neither Hux nor Phasma were enthusiastic about it. Phasma was worried about the safety of her cadets, while Hux was worried for Caleb's safety (hey, he wouldn't want his brand new assistant to be killed again).

Caleb and Ezra worked hard to change their appearances, but the changes had to be minimal, in case the others got suspicious. Ezra cut off a lot of his hair, so his original longer ponytail turned into a really short one. It almost resembled Kanan's hairstyle, except his hair was gelled back professionally. Caleb shaved off his beard. Fortunately, the others were too nervous about Kylo Ren's return to question their new looks, while Grami just assumed they wanted a new look. Like a fresh new start.

Almost everyone was present to receive 'Kylo' (Ben, in this case). Hux stood in the very front, absently fixing the high collar of his robes and his matching hat.

Caleb and Ezra checked and checked to ensure that their Force signatures were muted. It wasn't hard, seeing that the Dark Side would do most of the work for them. They could smell the suffocating stench of the Dark Side miles away, which meant Ben's shuttle was closing in.

' Sir, Lord Ren's shuttle has dropped out of hyperspace. The clearance code is proven to be correct,' A junior lieutenant said.

' Let him in,' Hux ordered.

The dismay was obvious as the dark menacing shape of Kylo Ren's command shuttle drew closer, pulled by the tractor beam and landed with a dull thud on the metal floor of the hangar. White smoke hissed as the ramp dropped down, and out came the infamous Kylo Ren. Or well, Ben.

Caleb gulped. He had seen holos of Kylo Ren's clothes and helmet, but seeing it on the spot was a different thing.

' Pleased to see you, Lord Ren,' Hux said, hiding his utter disgust for the man. ' I assume you have had a refreshing vacation?' Caleb learnt from Kylo that both of them would attempt to have polite conversations in front of the lower ranked officials, but then they would both try to criticise and make ridiculously childish comments about each other in the common rooms. Others would say Hux was probably the only one that could get away safely after making fun of Kylo.

' Yes, General,' Ben's voice was harsh and grating from behind the mask. ' It certainly was.'

Hux added coldly, ' And congratulations on your, ahem, success on Kirogha! All of us were thrilled.'

' Of course, the Resistance has to be eliminated,' Ben said. He turned around to survey the entire room. Caleb grew tense.

 _I am not a Force sensitive, I am not a Force sensitive, I am nothing, I am nothing,_ he chanted over and over again to reinforce the strength of his mind block.

At last, Ben turned away dismissively, and Caleb nearly sagged in relief, but he had to maintain his professional posture.

Hux told the small group of Stormtroopers to his right, ' Escort Lord Ren to his quarters. Lord Ren, we will have a, uh, dinner to celebrate your return. You will be there, right?'

' Of course,' Ben said, nodding at Phasma as he passed by, and followed the Stormtroopers. Once the blast doors of the hangar bays slid shut, everyone was too relieved to care about the protocol and let out audible sighs. Even the Stormtroopers on guard, who were usually stoic and standing in a perfect posture, allowed themselves to relax for a moment.

Hux was slightly disapproving of their actions, but well, he understood their anxiety. ' People,' He clapped his hands. ' Back to work! And others that are involved, go to the common room. Wilfred, go with me.'

' Yes, Sir,' Caleb said, following Hux. Hopefully, he would see Ezra at dinner, since he would be attending as Phasma's assistant.

Half of the attendees were at the common room already, but none of them seemed happy. Not even the sumptuous looking dinner lifted their spirits. Phasma wasn't wearing her helmet. Caleb and Ezra had seen Phasma without her helmet (she had short blonde hair) for one or two times, now that they had been working for a long time. It was an extremely rare occasion.

' Of course Ren would be late for his _own_ dinner banquet,' Hux said sarcastically, dropping his professional, commanding demeanour. ' That ridiculous, ridiculous man.' He was starting to pour his friends tall glasses of wine, when Ben finally decided to join the dinner. His mask was gone, and they were able to see his face. It hadn't changed, at least. But instead of the usual sweet smile, he was wearing a rather annoyed scowl.

' Ah Ren!' Hux didn't drop his sarcastic tone. ' Glad to know that you have decided to come. We are starting to worry you are going to, you know, ditch us.'

Ben ignored him, and sat down in between Mitaka and Hux. Mitaka tried to slowly edge away from him and Ben paid no attention to him.

' Who's this?' Ben asked, his dark eyes focusing on Caleb. Caleb swallowed down his panic and the urge to flee the room.

' My _new_ assistant,' Hux emphasised. ' The Supreme Leader has agreed to give me a replacement after you brutally _killed_ my last one. I don't intend to work without an assistant.'

' Hmph,' Ben said.

' He's a Tarkin,' Hux gloated.

' Hmph,' Ben said again. ' Whatever. It's not like he's Darth Vader or anything. So what have you got, Phasma? A new assistant too? Matching new assistants?'

Hux glowered at him.

Caleb's mind screamed in delight. YAS! Ben didn't recognise him! That was a good start. And his beard didn't get shaved in vain.

' So, where have you been?' Phasma asked. Everyone tensed up, knowing that this was the very thing they had been wondering about for a long time.

' On medical leave,' Ben said after a pause. ' I thought you knew.' They deflated disappointedly.

 _Oh pooh, obviously not,_ Caleb wanted to say. _You got landed in Kylo's body, escaped back to the Resistance for some time, before you got caught and brainwashed by the First Order._

' Yeah, I thought your leave was supposed to be _short_ ,' Hux sipped his wine daintily. ' Where have you been for the last month? Chillaxing in your Darth Vader shrine?'

' Oh. Extra training with the Supreme Leader,' Ben answered curtly. ' He has been honing my Force skills.'

Hux's less than amused facial expression probably said _oh yeah, the Force hocus pocus you have been doing, you could have come back earlier and helped with the Star Destroyer chores you brat._ He quickly poured himself another generous measure of expensive wine (this guy could drink more than three bottles of wine and not get drunk).

Dinner continued on, and it was a rather uncomfortable and unpleasant occasion, with Ben and Hux constantly trying to claw at each other with snide remarks. And Caleb was wondering whether the others could sense that this wasn't the original Kylo Ren. While Ezra marvelled at the fact that the two superior officers of the First Order were acting like children, and the others didn't seem to care.

Hey. Ben was just brainwashed (still not so sure about this part) and put in Kylo's place.

Not that he had actually seen the real Kylo Ren in action before, but he could safely assume that Ben had to seriously act to not raise any suspicion.

Hm. He never knew Ben was such a good actor.

Finally, after dessert was served, Hux coolly announced that dinner was over. One by one the officials stood up to return to their quarters, glad to be out of the hostile and chilly gloom that was literally radiating off both Hux and Ben.

' I am going down to the pantry,' Grami whispered to Caleb when he brushed past him. ' Whew. I was so terrified this entire time, I didn't eat much! Now I'm hungry.'

' We can go with you,' Caleb said, realising that he too hadn't eaten a lot. He was too busy trying to hold up his Force sensitivity block the entire time. Ezra on the other hand was just pushing food around his plate with a fork.

They chatted and went down to get some biscuits and hot chocolate. The creamy goodness warmed them up, which was good. And they needed all the energy to survive the coming days, well, with Ben on the Finaliser.

* * *

The Resistance base was in a state of disarray. Of course they were all well-prepared for the possibility of evacuation, but it was a little bit sudden and no one provided the actual reason behind it. Fortunately, the high generals had recently picked Dantooine to the chosen planet in case they needed to move. Just months ago, they had scouts to clear up the old base, and started building a new base. They had reported that the base was nearly done, so basically, it would be okay for them to move in.

The planet was far away from First Order's reach. They wouldn't be coming after them, yet.

Poe could be seen frantically hopping around, barking orders and directing the pilots to climb onto a X-Wing each and loading up astromechs. BB8, R2 and Chopper rolled on behind him, chirping at passing droids. Half of the cargo cruisers were gone already, with medical supplies, food and clothing.

Leia walked around, to inspect the base, with the large group of Jedi tagging behind her. Fulcrum was next to her, talking fast.

Kylo was in a daze. Wow. Snoke was quick to replace him.

' Woah woah woah,' Anakin spluttered. ' But... Ben won't do that!'

' Snoke can be really convincing,' Kylo frowned. ' Which is really bad. Caleb and Ezra are in a significant amount of trouble.'

' I asked them to... Change up their appearances,' Fulcrum said. ' That should hold on for a while. We'll have them stay to assess the situation, before we decide what to do.'

Anakin wailed, ' But... It is my grandson we're talking about!'

' What has Snoke done with him?' Ahsoka demanded. ' Like... It's impossible for someone to have a sudden change of mindset.'

Kylo muttered, ' He has been tortured _and_ mind-wiped, no doubt about it. It depends on how Snoke did it. He could have broken him by projecting horrendous images into Ben's head or spooking him senseless using the Force.'

' How do you know?' Older-Ezra snapped.

Kylo snorted humourlessly, ' All of you may have been wrong about Snoke. He isn't the duelling type of Force user. Heck, I don't even think he has a lightsaber-'

Kanan interrupted, ' What, he doesn't even have a lightsaber?!'

' Oh yeah. Only the Knights of Ren carry one,' Kylo scowled. ' Snoke never duels. He's too old and battered to duel anyway. But he is an accomplished Force user, and he takes pride in his many mind tricks. I've seen some before, and believe me, you don't want to see what he does to the prisoners and traitors. Not so sure about it yet, but I have a feeling that he has been passing some of my memories into Ben's head, so he's currently in an extremely confused state.'

' So you mean...' Anakin trembled. ' Ben is becoming you?'

' Possibly. His own memories are overlapping the new images, so he's probably confused whether he is supposed to be Ben Solo or Kylo Ren. If Snoke continues to do this to him, he'll be fully convinced that he is me,' Kylo stated blankly. ' At that point, it can't be helped. He will become... Well, like my clone.' Anakin let out a quiet shriek.

Fulcrum said grimly, ' I have to warn Ezra and Caleb about this.'

' You have better,' Kylo warned darkly. ' You're lucky I am on your side now.'

 **Phew! Sorry I've been inactive for so long! :( But I have this really really really really really important test that I really really really really have to ace. Or else I will be in so much trouble. :/**

 **Anyways... Here's the Me and Star Wars section... Where my friend and I were studying Biology and she thought I was delusional. Doesn't make any sense, but well... Revision techniques never make sense.**

 **Friend: THIS IS SO ANNOYING! How am I supposed to differentiate between catabolism and anabolism (note: catabolism is the breaking down reaction and anabolism is the building up reaction, at least this is what the textbook said) ?!**

 **Me: Yeah?**

 **Friend: I mean, catabolism and anabolism! The spellings are so similar! How am I supposed to know which definition is for which?**

 **Me: Oh, I have a method.**

 **Friend: How?!**

 **Me: Anabolism. Ana. Anakin. Anakin loves building stuff. So anabolism is definitely the building up one. So the remaining should be the breaking down one.**

 **Friend: You. Are. Delusional.**

 **Me: You are welcome.**


	36. Chapter 36

Caleb knew of the Resistance's successful evacuation not from Fulcrum, but from a raging General Hux. He could literally smell his rage miles away.

' THEY ESCAPED AGAIN! AGAIN, PEOPLE!' He roared loudly, much to everyone's surprise when he literally popped up in the middle of lunch. ' WHY DO THEY KEEP DISAPPEARING WHENEVER WE HAVE A LEAD ON THEM?! WHY? OH WHY!'

Caleb hid his relief by taking a quick sip of cold water. So his friends were safe.

Mitaka frowned at him, ' What? Did you have a raid? We weren't informed of this.'

' YES WE DID! KYLO REN SAID THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON D'QAR! HE WAS RIGHT! YEAH! BUT WHEN WE ARRIVED, THEY WERE GONE! THE BASE WAS EMPTY! NO SHIPS! NO RESISTANCE! ONLY A FINE INCH OF DUST!' Hux shook his fist in fury. ' HOW DID THEY KNOW WE WERE COMING?! HOW, HUH? HUH?'

Phasma appeared behind Hux, her helmet under her arm, blonde hair sticking to her sweaty forehead and undeniably downcast. She said forlornly, ' You should calm down Hux. We did our best, didn't we?' So she had gone to the raid as well.

' HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN!' Hux crushed a paper cup, and water splashed everywhere. He was too angry to care.

' You are acting like Kylo,' Phasma sighed. ' On the bright side, none of my troopers died, which is a good thing. Colonel Santos has just reported that Kylo had destroyed the control panel of the hangar bay _again._ We have to order a new one, and it's pretty expensive, so maybe-'

' I DON'T CARE ABOUT HOW EXPENSIVE THE CONTROL PANEL IS!' Hux fumed. ' I WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE RESISTANCE IS!'

Phasma tugged Hux away, ' Come on, Hux. You are scaring and stressing out the others. They're on lunch break.' She must have possessed superhuman strength, because Ezra had no idea how she managed to drag the kicking, screaming and somewhat childish General away from the mess hall.

' That was terrifying,' Grami said out loud.

Minutes later, Phasma returned without Hux, sighing deeply to herself.

' You don't seem very mad,' Joel pointed at Phasma with his fork.

Phasma glanced at him irritatedly, ' I wasn't mad. I was furious. But hey, we tried our best. I don't see why Hux and Kylo have to rage about it.'

' Well, you almost had them,' A recently transferred officer named Charis said wistfully. ' I would be mad if I were you too. It's everyone's dream to wipe the Resistance off the galaxy.'

' But I wouldn't destroy the entire control panel or scream myself hoarse. On the bright side, none of my men died, so it's not that bad,' Phasma plopped down on a seat, tired. ' I wonder where Kylo got hold of the intel in the first place. Why would he know they were on D'Qar? Strange.'

 _Yeah. Strange,_ Caleb pestered at Ezra through their bond. _Kinda fishy, right? Right? Right? Right? Answer me, Ezra!_

Ezra kicked him in his shins under the table.

' But Hux said they evacuated?' Grami pointed out. ' Doesn't it sound suspicious? They aren't supposed to know we are coming, unless... They knew we are coming.'

Mitaka narrowed his eyes, ' Grami, what do you mean?'

' Dunno, just my guess,' Grami wiped his fingers with his napkin. ' We might have a traitor amongst our ranks.'

 _Woah, woah woah woah, go back there, go back there,_ Caleb panicked.

Everyone started muttering.

' We don't know for sure yet, so I would not jump to the conclusion quickly,' Phasma said coolly. ' Ezra, when you are done with lunch, report to my office. I need to file in the status report for my troopers.'

' Oh, I am done,' Ezra stood up. ' I'll come with you.'

 _See you at your quarters after I am done with the status reports,_ he channeled his thoughts to his former Master through their bond. _We might be in serious trouble._

* * *

' Ha!' Poe turned around and removed his headset, beaming at his friends. ' Our scouts have reported that the First Order stormed D'Qar hours after we left! And guess what? They are warmly welcomed by an EMPTY BASE! Take that!' He proceeded to cackle in such a wicked way that freaked them out, but they were happy about it nonetheless.

' That was a close call,' Fulcrum admitted. ' According to Caleb, General Hux and Ky-Ben were very angry about it. They said Hux screamed at the entire room of officers during lunch, and had to be escorted outside by a fellow Captain.'

Kylo allowed himself to smile, ' Ooh. Sounds like Hux. Is he throwing rubber ducks too?'

' Rubber ducks?!' Poe echoed incredulously.

' They won't find us here, will they?' Finn squeaked in fear.

' We are safe,' Leia assured him. ' Don't worry. Besides, Caleb and Ezra will keep us informed.'

' Caleb and Ezra have to figure out what happened to Ben before they realise where we are,' Kanan said nervously, not wanting to provoke anyone as the topic of Ben being manipulated was still a sore and avoided topic among them.

Kylo added, ' I need more information on his behaviour. Are there any cracks in his actions? Sudden memory loss? Confusion?'

' Oh they didn't say,' Fulcrum said, surprised that Kylo was offering to help.

' Ask them to observe closely,' Kylo crossed his arms. ' Or else I won't know what happened to him, okay?'

Fulcrum nodded, ' Okay. I will. Where is Anakin by the way?'

' He's depressed. The Daughter and the Son should be keeping him company,' Ahsoka sighed. ' Oh no, he's missing again. I had better check on him, in case he tries to drown himself in the bathroom again.' She hurried away to the direction of the living quarters.

' Again?' Older-Ezra snorted. ' I'm surprised.'

How Luke had managed to transfer the Daughter and the Son to this new base was purely anyone's guess.

' Get back to work, we'll deal with this later,' Leia said.

* * *

' Well, we are in a significant amount of trouble,' Caleb fretted. ' Of course they will be suspicious! Oh, next thing, they will be interrogating us and see if we are traitors!'

' Naw, we just need to lay low,' Ezra said. ' And attract as little attention to us as possible. Kylo would not be interested in two lowly officials all of a sudden, and I think Hux trusts you a lot. For now, as Fulcrum says, we need to monitor Ben's behaviour. We'll be fine. Your comlink beeped, by the way.'

' Yours too,' Caleb said. ' It's a broadcast message.'

Phasma's calm voice came through their com links, _Officials, please gather at the meeting room. We are going to have a raid soon._

' A raid?!' Ezra murmured.

' Let me guess,' Caleb sighed. ' We have to go with them.'

' Cool! I love action,' Ezra stood up. ' I mean, it's boring to stay cooped up inside a Star Destroyer! I would like to see land.'

' But we are going to be destroying villages in the process,' Caleb deadpanned.

' Right,' Ezra wilted slightly. ' But we still have to go.'

* * *

Turned out Caleb was correct, because Phasma said, ' It's on Hux's orders. He wants all of the officials to get trained up for simple battle and stuff, so you all need to go. No exemptions.'

Grami groaned, ' I don't wanna move!'

Phasma eyed him irritatedly, ' You won't be doing the work. My troopers will. And in case you get attacked, we have some spare blasters in these boxes. Everyone take one.'

' Um, where are we going exactly?' Charis asked, taking one shiny blaster.

' Naboo,' Phasma answered.

 _Naboo?!_

' Naboo?!' Mitaka said incredulously, mirroring Caleb's own shock. ' I... I thought we didn't have control over Naboo. It's a Republic planet, is it not? I'm not so sure-'

' Yes, but since the Republic is dissolved after we blew up Hosnian Prime,' Hux said, shrugging on his own cloak. ' We have control over it. There has been some anti-First Order activity around the villages recently, just around Theed. So we'll be storming it. Secondly, it's on the Supreme Leader's orders. Who are you to question the Leader's orders?'

' If you say so, General,' Mitaka muttered darkly. ' But does the Queen of Naboo know of this?'

' Queen Pheinia has no power or saying over it,' Hux said snappishly. ' But we will inform her of our arrival. Well, Wilfred, what are you waiting for? Take the blaster.'

' Um, yes, Sir,' Caleb said, receiving the blaster and hung it in on his utility belt. He secretly changed the setting to stun using the Force. Well, if he really needed to shoot at people, he would prefer to stun them. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Ezra doing the same to his own blaster.

' Will Lord Ren be joining us?' Joel asked uncomfortably.

' He will, yes,' Phasma nodded. ' But rest assure, he will not be joining us until we arrive. He'll be riding his private command shuttle.'

' _Phew,'_ Joel breathed out in relief.

' We must not delay our raid,' Phasma put on her helmet. ' Grami, ask the bridge to set course for hyperspace, now.'

Caleb winced. He could imagine how upset Ghost-Anakin would be if he learnt that they were going to storm his beloved wife's home planet and final resting place. Luke and Leia wouldn't be happy either.

He wish he could call to Fulcrum through their temporary bond. But the Daughter closed it off when he put on his disguise.

A slight tremble notified him that they just went into hyperspace.

* * *

Their shuttle landed, in the middle of an exotic looking forest, at the outskirts of Theed.

Caleb and Ezra recognised it all too well. They had once tagged along the Skywalker family trip, and camped in the same forest. It was pleasantly cool even in the summer, and they enjoyed the quietness of the nature. But no, the tranquility was stabbed through by the humming of machinery and commands by the First Order troops.

Their shiny uniforms stood out too much in the soft green landscape. It was ugly.

' Ugh, they are destroying the beautiful nature,' Caleb moaned, when the troopers marched on the grass.

' We are dividing ourselves into groups,' Hux said loudly, and everyone snapped into attention. ' One group will march to the enemy camp. Kylo, Phasma and I will take the troopers, along with Joel, Mitaka and Charis. The second group will be the delegates. We will send them to the Queen's palace. Caleb, Ezra and Grami, I hope you can convince the Queen to join our side. I don't think we need a large group for this cause.'

' Huh, us?'

' Yes. Phasma said that the three of you are... um, more on the diplomatic side than fighting,' Hux shrugged. ' So you will be in charge of the more diplomatic stuff. Fix these golden badges onto your sleeves, and they will mark you as delegates.' Golden badges of the First Order symbol were passed to them.

 _Thank the Force. You are very wrong about us, Phasma, but thank the Force._ They wouldn't take part in the rampage, and they even had the chance to visit the palace!

' We accept the mission,' Ezra said, bowing slightly.

' Good, take this shuttle and go now,' Hux pointed at the direction of the palace. ' Send us a message when you arrive, and we'll rendezvous here.'

Caleb turned, seeing the majestic green and golden Theed Royal Palace behind the wild thicket of trees. He had absolutely no idea who this Queen Pheinia was (at least it was Queen Venia at his time), but this was definitely better than ruining the nature along with Ben. He would never forgive himself if he took part in harming (or stunning) the civilians.

 **Happy Chinese New Year, to anyone who celebrates it! :DDDDDDDDD**

 **Sorry for being gone for so long lol! :P**


End file.
